Joseph was born in 1891. Both his English name and his Hebrew name יודל (Yudel) are after his paternal grandfather, Joseph/Yehuda Aryeh.

Joseph was 13 years old when his parents immigrated from Budapest to the United States. They came with their two children Joseph and Elizabeth. Their oldest daughter Margaret was already in the US (still in Chicago at that time).

Joseph married Marie Deutsch and they had one daughter, Marion, probably around 1917.

Joseph's father Sam passed away in July 1917, and Joseph was drafted a short time after that and sent to fight in World War I. By the time he came back from the war, Marie had passed away (probably in 1918). Marion was adopted by Marie's sister Flora.

Joseph's mother and sister Elizabeth moved to the West Coast after Sam died. Elizabeth married Jacob Lieberman and they settled in Santa Cruz.

After Joseph came back from the war, he lived with his cousin Adolph Weiss in Chicago and was a cutter of men's clothing (same field as his cousin, who was a tailor). In 1922, Joseph married Marie's sister, Adeline. They had Marvin in 1923 and Shirley in 1928.

In the 1930 census, Joseph was a waiter in a restaurant.

The Weiss family were founders and respected members of the Dr. Herzl Society (a Hungarian-American insurance company).