Joan was born in Gladsmuir, East Lothian, Scotland, the only daughter of John Glassell who had emigrated to the Colonies with his brother, Andrew.
[1][2] Glassel was a member of a Lowland Scots family,[3][4] and his wife, Helen née Buchan, was also Scottish.
Joan married the future duke in 1820, when he was known as Lord John Campbell.
Lord and Lady Campbell had three children: After Joan's death in 1828, Argyll married a third time, to Anne Monteith, a widow and the eldest daughter of John Cuninghame; she had been a friend of his second wife.
The duke died, aged 69, in Inveraray Castle in Argyllshire and was buried at Kilmun Parish Church.