Farmer and Revolutionary War "Patriot" who enlisted in Captain Galloway's Company of Middlesex County, NJ, militia on 18 Mar 1776. He accepted a recommendation to serve as a "Minuteman" in Col John Dunn's elite Minutemen Regiment of Col Nathaniel Heard' Brigade of the Continental line. After nine months of service, he was discharged in New York, returned home to New Jersey, and then relocated to Loudoun County, VA, to join his parents, Joshua and Mary Atchley, and extended family.

Later, he settled in Botetourt County, VA, where he again answered our Nation's Call to fight for American Independence. From April to October 1781, he served in Capt James Barnett's company of Botetourt County militia, which saw action at the Seige of Yorktown, VA, until Cornwallis' surrender. For this Virginia militia service, the State of Virginia granted him land in Botetourt County on 22 May 1783.

With the Nation's Independence secured, Joseph set about improving his land and establishing a home on the Pedlar's Run branch of the Roanoke River. He met, courted, and in about 1784, wed Christena, his wife of forty-five years. To their union were born twelve known children who survived to adulthood despite the many challenges that settlers faced on the Southwest Virginia, southeastern Kentucky, and East Tennessee frontiers.

By 1797, Joseph's name was recorded on the Tax List of Sullivan County, Tennessee. In about 1820, he moved again to the Sewee Creek community of Rhea County, Tennessee, in that part of Rhea County located between the Hiwassee and the Little Tennessee Rivers. Known as the Hiwassee District of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi River, this district was the basis for the 1836 formation of Meigs County, TN.

On 1 Aug 1825, Joseph appeared before the Rhea County Court, where he provided the details of his Revolutionary War military service in a sworn affidavit. His intent was to obtain a pension under the March 1818 Federal law, which extended financial assistance to Revolutionary War veterans.

In his 14 Feb 1829 will, Joseph named the following heirs to his estate: his wife, Christena; sons, Thomas, Joshua, Daniel, Joseph, Moses, and Joel Atchley; daughters, Barsheba Price, Rebecca Hannah, and Thursey Atchley, the future Mrs Richardson M Mullins. Joseph also left bequests to the children of his deceased son, Elijah, and to the children of his daughter, Rutha (Atchley) Murphree, the deceased wife of Cader Murphree. His will was filed for probate during the Aug 1829 session of Rhea County's Chancery Court.

Although himself not a Rhea County landowner, Joseph's brother, Martin O Atchley, owned lands that today encompass and surround the Meigs County location of Pisgah Cemetery, which has long been associated with the Pisgah Baptist Church of Christ, Meigs County's earliest Christian fellowship established in 1818.

In 1848, Jacob Price, husband of Joseph's neice, Catherine Atchley, gifted to the congregation of the Pisgah Baptist Church the acre of land upon which their permanent church house had been erected. Because of the Pisgah Cemetery's location upon known Atchley-Price lands, this cemetery's known association with the Pisgah Baptist Church, and Jacob Price's 1848 gift of land to the church congregation, Pisgah Cemetery is the most probably location for Joseph Atchley's grave.

Other family members believed to be buried in this cemetery in unmarked graves are: his wife, Christena, who died in the 1850s; his son, Joseph Atchley, Jr, who died in the second half of 1860; Mary (Smith) Atchley, wife of Joseph Atchley Jr, who died in the 1850s; and Noah Rector Atchley, son of Joseph Atchley Jr, who died on 26 Jan 1895 near Pinhook Landing; his neice, Catherine Price, who died in 1869; and Jacob Price, who died in 1878.

Descendents of Joseph Atchley Sr who are known to be buried in this cemetery are his grand-daughter, Abigail (Atchley) Wilhelm, and grandson, William Atchley, two of the children of Joseph Atchley Jr and Mary (Smith) Atchley.

The Sons of the American Revolution held a commemorative ceremony on 13 September 2014 to mark Joseph's newly placed grave marker as the place of eternal rest for an American Patriot and Minuteman.