Joseph Kettlestrings was born November 7, 1808 in Newton, Yorkshire England to William and Hannah (Cundall) Kettlestrings.

Parents:
William Kettlestrings 1775-1825
Hannah Cundall 1780-1851

Spouse:
Elizabeth 'Betty' Willis 1802-1885

Siblings:
Mary Kettlestrings 1797 – 1857
Hannah Kettlestrings 1799 –
Ann Kettlestrings 1801 – 1802
Deborah Kettlestrings 1806 – 1882
Ellen Kettlestrings 1812 – 1891
Edward Kettlestrings 1813 – 1870

On March 8, 1829 at the age of 20, Joseph was united in marriage with Elizabeth 'Betty' Willis in England.

Much information can be seen at the Pleasant Home Museum in Oak Park regarding Oak Park founding settlers Joseph and Betty Kettlestrings.

In 1832 when Joseph was 24 years old, according to the 'History of Cook County, Illinois: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time By Alfred Theodore Andreas', the family emigrated to America, first landing in Baltimore 1832 then to Cincinnati by ox-drawn covered wagons. In Cincinnati their third child was born. The first two children having been born in England.

In the spring of 1833 they moved to present day Oak Park, one time called Kettlestring Grove. It was said to be the first dry land they found after passing through Chicago where they had remained only two days.

A plaque was placed August 3, 1962 on the location where Joseph and Betty built their first cabin "By Proclamation" by the Oak Park Board of Realtors. They were the original settlers and founders of Oak Park Illinois.
... The plaque reads;

"BIRTHPLACE OF OAK PARK"
On this site in 1885, Joseph Kettlestrings and his wife, Betty, first settlers of Oak Park, built their cabin amid the oaks of 'the only dry land between Chicago and the ...? Plaines. It later became an Inn, called the Oak Ridge House, and was the areas first public eating place...a stopping point for travelers, and for cattlemen who drove their herds down the trail, (now Lake Street) to Chicago.

Joseph and Betty raised a family of eleven children, several died young.

Children:
William Kettlestrings 1829–1850
Ann Kettlestrings 1830–1844
Hannah Frances Kettlestrings 1832–1883
Ellen Kettlestrings 1835–1836
Mary Kettlestrings 1836–1844
Joseph Willis Kettlestrings 1838–1897
Dora Ellen Kettlestrings 1839–1936
Elizabeth Jane Kettlestrings 1840–1922
Thomas Walter Kettlestrings 1842–1844
Mary Ann Kettlestrings 1845–1908
Walter Newton Kettlestrings 1849-1939

Joseph Kettlestrings' death came suddenly November 17, 1883. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife Betty and 5 children.