When Joel Hershberger was born on 6 October 1865, in Elk Lick Township, Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States, his father, Elias D Hershberger, was 29 and his mother, Elisabeth Miller, was 24. He married Veronica D. Yoder on 31 December 1893, in Somerset, Pennsylvania, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Pennsylvania, United States in 1870. He died on 29 March 1946, at the age of 80.