Joseph Barnard (1717-1785) was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, to Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Foster) Barnard. A farmer and merchant who imported goods from the busy seaport town of Salem, Massachusetts, where his uncle Samuel Barnard (1684-1762) lived. Joseph employed people in Deerfield to weave duck cloth used on ships. He had served in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and was a supporter of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Prominent in town affairs, he served as a selectman for 15 years and as town treasurer for nearly as long. Joseph built a fine house facing the Deerfield common that still stands. He and his wife had five children who lived to adulthood. He died in 1785, aged 68.
Joseph benefited from the use of his uncle Samuel's enslaved men, Pompey, Adam, and Titus, who worked on his farm and in his store. He also enslaved a man named Prince whom he bought for £160 from Dr. Thomas Wells (1693-1744) in 1743, and hired him out to neighbors. Prince ran away in 1749, and Joseph placed a notice in the Boston Weekly Post-Boy newspaper, offering a £10 reward to whomever returned his enslaved man. Within months, Prince was back in Deerfield, where he died in 1752.
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