Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lister, Joseph (1627-1709)
LISTER, JOSEPH (1627–1709), puritan autobiographer, born at Bradford in Yorkshire 7 June 1627, was educated for some time at the free school there, and was apprenticed at Horton, near Bradford, and later at Sowerby. After the completion of his apprenticeship he traded in Sowerby for two years on his own account, but being unsuccessful he went to London and became a man-servant. Returning to the north he continued in the same capacity for two years at Greatham Hospital (Durham), when he returned to Bradford and became a small farmer. After two years at Bradford he removed to Bailey fold, Allerton, a small property which had been left him by an uncle. He was deacon in the nonconformist congregation at Kipping, near Allerton, and occasionally performed ministerial functions. He died 14 March 1709.
Lister married at Allerton in 1657, and had two sons; the second (b. 1671) was ordained to the nonconformist ministry, and for seven years was pastor of the congregation at Kipping. He died on 25 Feb. 1709, a few days before his father. Lister's autobiography, edited by Thomas Wright, was published in 1842 at London, and was reprinted at Bradford in 1860. It is in the style of the puritan biographies of the period, and chiefly deals with his spiritual conflicts and experiences. ‘A Genuine Account of the Siege of Bradford in the time of the Civil War,’ by Lister, is appended to the original memoirs of Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1810.
[Lister's Autobiography, London, 1842, and Bradford, 1860; Historical Narrative of Life of Joseph Lister, Wakefield, n.d. 16mo; a sermon on death of Joseph Lister by Thomas Whitaker of Leeds, 1709.]