Joseph Starnes/Starns was the eldest son of Joseph and Katherine (maiden name not known) Starns/Starnes, and was born in southwestern Virginia near the North Carolina border in 1755.

His father, Joseph, Sr., and uncle, Frederick, were journeying to Kentucky in the 1760s and 1770s. When he became a young man, Joseph, Jr., joined them on these trips and became familiar with the geography of what would become western Virginia and eastern Kentucky. In April, 1779 on their final expedition into Kentucky the four men of the Starnes family, his father, uncle, brother-in-law and himself, were pursued by Indians. They were all brutally murdered except Joseph , Jr. He was the only member of the party to escape.

During the Revolutionary War he served as a scout in the western parts of the southern colonies and fought in the Battle of King's Mountain, NC.

Joseph took on the responsibilities of the head of the household of his widowed mother and helped her to rear the younger children. After the Revolution in 1784 he moved his mother and his younger siblings to Mecklenburg County, NC, where other members of his extended family had been living for nearly twenty years.

So be cause of his responsibilities he did not marry until unusually late. In August, 1796 he married Rachel Rice, the daughter of Jared and Lettie Rice(Reiss). They had eight children: Eleanor, Joseph III, Jesse, Jarret Harrison, Sarah, Rachel, Jacob and Myra.

In 1816 he moved his family to a new home near the Catawba River in what was then Burke County, NC and is now Alexander County, NC. They lived on a large tract of land on Middle Little River and Rock Creek which flow into the Catawba River. There he farmed and operated a grist mill. In 1824 he qualified to serve on the Burke County, NC Court of Pleas and Quarters. In October, 1832 he applied for a pension for his service during the American Revolution from the US Federal Government, Pension Application #S7600. His application was approved and he received $46.66 each year. The federal pension payment records state that the final payment made to him was in March, 1840. So it seems likely that he died in early 1840.

He was buried in the cemetery at the meetinghouse which later became Bethlehem Baptist Church. Whatever grave maker that may have been erected at the time of his death disappeared long ago but the approximate location was identified by Wm. Leroy Starnes, a descendant and a lifelong resident of the Bethlehem community, and others from the community. In the 1960s a replacement stone was dedicated to his memory.

Some of the dates on the monument have since been determined to be incorrect. The year of his birth, 1755, is correct and is found in his Revolutionary War pension application papers. He married Rachel Rice in August, 1796. Their marriage bond was issued in Mecklenburg County, NC on August 16, 1796. But since marriages often happened several days after the bond was issued, it can not be assumed that the marriage occurred on that day. His extant estate papers are dated from 23 April 1840 forward. So circa early 1840 is more appropriate for the date of his death.