Joseph Jerome was a young man of 24 when his family came to the United States from Belgium and settled near Freedom, Wisconsin.   Joseph worked at various occupations in and around Appleton, Wisconsin, but eventually took up farming.  His father had claimed for each of his sons 40 acres of land from the Government, under an act passed  for the reclamation of the Wisconsin swamp lands.  Joseph sought out the 40 acres that was his share in what would be later named Black Creek township and built a log shanty, where he lived by himself.  He worked at various tasks for other settlers needing his services.  As soon as he had accomplished the clearing of a small portion of his land, he cultivated it, carrying the harvested crop to Appleton on his back.  There were no roads at this time, and Joseph endured many hardships in his trips on foot through the woods, but soon he was able to purchase a team of oxen, finally considering himself a full-fledged farmer.

During one of his 12 mile trips to Appleton, he became acquainted with Katharina (Catherine) Herb, the daughter of one of the early settlers of Outagamie County who had immigrated over to the United States from Baden, Germany.  Joseph and Catherine courted for a while and eventually married on December 26, 1958 in Little Chute, Wisconsin by Rev. Father Pfeiffer with no public record of their marriage.  They settled down to live in the little log cabin in the woods and began to raise a family, eventually having 2 sons and 3 daughters (Albert, Amelia, Alexander, Pauline, Mary).

In 1864, Joseph enlisted in Company E, Fifth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and served as a soldier (Private) until the close of the Civil War.  He participating in the battles of Hatches Run, Fort Fisher, and Petersburg, being present at the surrender of General Lee.  After completing his army service, he returned to his farming operations, and acquired by purchase the land taken up by his brothers which by that time had changed hands several times.

Joseph kept up with county government and served as assessor of Black Creek township from the time of its organization for 15 years, and was responsible for naming the township after the creek that runs through its northwestern part. 

Joseph died on May 4, 1887  at age 61 and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery near Five Corners, in Freedom.  There is public record of Catherine applying for a widow's pension at age 70 based on Joseph's years in the service.  Catherine survived Joseph by 6 years living until May 6, 1892.  She was buried next to to him in Freedom.

Of their children, Albert married Matilda Huven in 1888, continued to farm the land passed onto him by his father and had 7 children.  Amelia married Patrick Richev and died at the young age of 30 in Oregon in 1891 leaving behind her husband and 7 children.  Alexander died at age 17 when he was accidently shot while hunting deer.  Pauline married John Raddemacher, moved to California and had 4 children.  Mary married John Nabbefeld and moved to Saskatchewan, Canada.