He was born on October 24, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and graduated in 1911. French first married Amie Gertrude Lathe (1885-1921) around 1912 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was put in charge of the last stages of construction on Henry Ford's Fairlane Manor in Dearborn, Michigan in 1913. In 1914 he started work for Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. in Detroit, Michigan, as a draftsman and then as an architect. By 1916 he was living at 2098 Woodward Avenue in Detroit. On June 10, 1921 his wife Amie died, and on June 8, 1926 he married Yolanda Christina Tandberg (1902-2003). Yolanda was the daughter of Thorvald Martin Tandberg (1874-1970) and Alvilde Marie Magdalene Naess (1875-1933) of Norway. She was 14 years younger than Joseph. They had several children including, Joseph Nathaniel French, Jr. While at Kahn he was chief architect for the Fisher Building in 1928. From 1930 to 1932 he worked at the Albert Kahn Associates, Inc. Moscow office with twenty-four other Kahn engineers and architects. One of his projects was the steel work of the General Motors Futurama building at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He worked on the design of the Chrysler plant near Kansas City. He died on February 28, 1975 in Livonia, Michigan. He was buried in Roseland Park Cemetery at 29001 Woodward Avenue, Berkley, Michigan.