An early member of the LDS Church and son of Ezekiel and Julia Hills Johnson. Joseph moved to Kirtland, Ohio in 1832 and was baptized as a Latter-day Saint in 1833. He was also a member of the Kirtland Camp in 1838 and taught school in Springfield, Illinois in 1840.
He moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1840 and was married to Harriet Snider by Joseph Smith later that year. Joseph accompanied Joseph and Hyrum Smith on their way to Carthage jail and was taken as a prisoner when the mob entered Nauvoo.
He settled in Miller's Hollow, now Council Bluffs in 1848 and built the first house in Pottawattamie County, Iowa (other than a log cabin). He was the postmaster at Council Bluffs for five years and was also a member of the first city council.
In 1852 he established the Council Bluffs Bugle (newspaper). The Bugle office and store destroyed by fire in 1853 yet afterward restored the office and published the paper until 1856. The Bugle was instrumental in getting the capitol of Nebraska Territory located at Omaha. (Lincoln was later chosen as the state capitol in 1867)
Joseph was elected to the Nebraska legislature but he said he was "too much of a Democrat" to get a seat. He also opened the first store on the present site of Omaha and sent the first train of goods to the Denver, Colorado (Cherry Creek) mines.
In 1854 he published the Omaha Arrow, the first newspaper published on Nebraska soil and that same year accompanied the first party of explorers for a railroad crossing on the Missouri River and Loupe Fork of the Platte river.
He wrote the first published article favoring the North Platte route for the Pacific railroad. In 1850 he crossed the plains to Utah and back and in 1857 started the Crescent City Oracle and also laid out the town of Crescent.
In 1858 he published the Council Bluffs Press and in published the Huntsman's Echo at Wood River, Nebraska.
In 1861 he moved to Utah and in 1863 established the Farmer's Oracle at Spring Lake Villa, Utah County.
In 1864 or 1865 he moved to St. George and began a garden supply and nursery and in published Our Dixie Times that was later named the Rio Virgin Times.
In 1870 he published the Utah Pomologist and Gardener (a monthly).
In 1876 he went to Silver Reef and put up a store and a printing office but sold part of office before the paper was started. In 1879 he was burned out with others yet afterward rebuilt the store on a larger scale.
In 1882 Joseph E. Johnson once again moved at his church's call and settled what would become Tempe, Arizona.

Marriages:

1) Harriet Snider md. 6 Oct 1840 - Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
2) Hannah Maria Goddard md. Dec 1850 Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa
3) Eliza Saunders md. Jun 1856 - Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa