Joseph served in the Revolutionary War. He marched 24 Apr, 1775 to Biddeford in response to the alarm of 19 Apr, 1775. Joseph was Captain of a Militia Company in Buxton and was proud of his title of honor.
Joseph settled on the Buxton side of the river not long after 1773. He built his first house of one story in the summer of 1776. In 1802 he built a larger, square, two-story house a short distance behind the original house, and here he lived for the remainder of his life.
Joseph was founder of the Bar Mills on the Buxton side of the river and owned most, if not all, of the land where that villiage now stands. A dam was built at the Bar Mills in 1795 and that year Joseph built the first sawmill on the Buxton side. His cousin John Woodman and others built the first one on the Hollis side. By 1798 Joseph had also built a grist mill, a fulling mill, and later, a carding mill, believed to be the first in Maine.
Joseph was primarily a lumberman, selling locally and in the West Indies. Lumber shipped to the Indies was frequently bartered for rum and molasses, valuable commodities in Maine. He died at the age of 75 as the result of a leg injury sustained while assisting in placement of a pier for the first bridge across the river at Bar Mills. |