Joseph Beets, Sr. was born around 1782 in Pennsylvania. His parents were George (abt. 1740- abt. 1807)and Maria Eva (maiden name Meister) Bitz. Bitz is a German name pronounced Beets. George Bitz (also spelled Bitts) and other Bitz families lived and owned land in Northampton County, Pennsylvania from abt 1760 to 1784. Their children Anna Magdalene, Peter, George, Adam, Anna Margaretha, John,, Joseph and Daniel were born here. The connection to the Bitz family was confirmed in 2009 through DNA testing. The spelling changed to Beats then to Beets because that is the way it sounded to those taking the census or taking a name for a deed.

George and family left Northampton County, Pennsylvania around 1784 and moved to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In 1792 they sold this land and moved to Rockbridge County, Virginia. In 1798 George (including Joseph Sr) and most of the family moved to Hawkins County, Tennessee. George presumably died there in 1807 or so after selling his land to George, Jr. Joseph Beets, Sr is next seen with his son Joseph Beets, Jr in the 1841 tax list for Grainger County, Tennesee. This is the county next to Hawkins.

Family history says Joseph Sr and Jr and Jesse Green McDaniel and wife Anna Beets McDaniel and others polled a flat boat from the Tennessee River to the Ohio, to the Missisippi to the Missouri and ended up in Cass County Missouri near Independence around 1841. The families of Joseph Beets, Sr and Joseph Beets, Jr are seen in the Cass County, Missouri 1850 census. Joseph Sr is 69 and Joseph Jr is 30. In 1855 Joseph Beets bought land in the newly opened Kansas Territory in Miami County (then called Lykins County). They were some of the first white settlers in Kansas. Joseph Beets, Sr and Jr are listed in the 1860 census of Marysville township, Miami County (then called Lykins). Joseph Sr is 78.

Joseph Sr is in the 1865 Miami Co census where he is 83 years old. He died sometime that year. The name of his wife is unknown.