Joel Tyson was born in North Carolina sometime after January 1760. As a minor, he became the owner of Jim Bowser, an enslaved African American boy, after Joel's father Abraham Tyson died. In January 1778 Jim Bowser died while he was hired out to Joel's relative Jehu Tyson. Jehu was charged with murdering Bowser and ordered to compensate Joel Tyson for Bowser's death. Joel Tyson died in Pitt County, North Carolina in about 1796.