Fear not, Joseph enjoyed a very positive reputation in his lifetime. Compared to Napoleon, Joseph was more urbane and articulate, as well as being more handsome and an inch taller than his younger sibling - the fashions of the day flattered the slimmer Joseph far more than thepuffy Napoleonand Joseph was far more popular with women than his brother. Joseph found it easy to build and maintain friendships regardless of political persuasion or class – he maintained the support of the infamously prickly Duchess of Abrantes long after she had rejected Napoleon and even former Spanish guerrilla chiefs enjoyed his company after the wars (compare this to Napoleon who infamously only had a few true friends in his lifetime and he got most of them killed). As a King, Joseph was renowned for his concern for the plight of “his” people and the efforts he made to improve their lives and win their love but sadly Napoleon, whether out of jealously or his own blind narcissism, poisoned Joseph’s reputation while dictating his memoires on St. Helena and painted his brother as weak and lazy, too interested in his own comfort and pleasure to make the hard decisions (i.e. brutally massacring his people) that would have ensured the Emperor’s success. While Napoleon was blaming Joseph for his own failures, his loyal brother was sending him money and defending Napoleon’s reputation in the press. Historians and Napoleon’s acolytes had previously accepted the Emperor’s judgement somewhat blindly, but Joseph’s reputation has been somewhat rehabilitated in recent times.

Early Life

Napoleon famously struggled at school in France, being bullied mercilessly for his provincial accent and failing to make many friends. Joseph, in contrast, excelled at school and was popular with his classmates – his French was apparently so good that he won first prize in an essay competition and was selected to recite poetry to the Prince of Conde when he came to present the school prizes. Joseph had apparently read most of the books of the library in secret so as not affect his reputation with his classmates and hiding his natural talent for schoolwork gave others the impression that he was lazy, a reputation that would follow him through life. Though his family had envisioned a clerical career for him, picturing a quick promotion to bishop of Corsica to secure the families fortunes, Joseph instead chose to became an army officer. This enraged his younger brother, who wrote a letter to the head of family attempting to thwart Joseph’s plans – some biographer point to this as Napoleon already taking over as head of the family, but no one listened to him and Joseph seemed destined for a career in the artillery until his father’s sudden death. Now head of the family at the age of 17 and with his widowed mother having to care for several young children, Joseph went to Italy and took up his father’s former career as a lawyer. Already his natural charm was building connections, including with the Archbishop of Pisa and the Grand-Duke of Tuscany, along with several exiled Corsican patriots. Returning to Corsica after completing his degree and moving up in the world of local politics, the handsome Joseph became on of the most eligible bachelors on the island and mothers schemed to marry their daughters to him. When the Revolution came, Joseph star rose higher and his political career prospered, but Napoleon returned to Corsica and became commander of the local national guard and brutally suppressed a riot in Ajaccio. Coupled with younger brother’s Lucien’s Jacobin rabble rousing in Marseille, the Bonapartes were forced to flee the island when it declared independence from France.

The Revolution

The family was now penniless and exiled in France. While Napoleon was returning to French service and meeting his destiny at the Siege of Toulon, Joseph was employed a secretary to the local representative Saliceti (an old associate from his time in Pisa) and took up contracts to supply the army forming to retake Corsica. In the purges following the siege, Étienne Clary, the son of an extremely wealthy merchant from Marseilles, was arrested and his wife came to the offices of the government to plead his case, bringing along her husband’s younger sister, Désirée. Clary was given a pardon and wife ran to the jail to give him the news, leaving Désirée behind. Joseph came across her looking lost and wondering how she would return home and escorted her back to her home. He was apparently quite charming during the walk and became a frequent visited to the Clary household, bringing along his sisters and Napoleon. The mothers of the two clans, both widows, had soon put together a plan for the families to be intermarried – the Clarys would benefit from the Bonaparte’s political connections and the Bonapartes would receive rich dowries. Joseph had initially proposed to Désirée, but was soon convinced to accept her older sister Julie instead. Napoleon insisted that he had made the decision, regarding both Joseph and Désirée as indecisive he claimed that the more practical Julie would suit Joseph better. This appears to more mythmaking – Napoleon was infatuated with Désirée and Julie loved Joseph, so Laetizia Bonaparte asked Joseph to propose to Julie instead to which he happily agreed. Napoleon would unceremoniously abandon Désirée as soon as he met Josephine, she later married Marshal Bernadotte and both he and the Emperor used her as pawn in their various clashes. Joseph and Julie’s marriage was not one of the great love stories of all time – they spent extended periods apart and Joseph, finding her somewhat dull when they were together, engaged in several long-term affairs – but they remained extremely affectionate towards each other and both absolutely adored their daughters. Joseph trusted Julie to serve as his trusted, if unofficial, ambassador to Napoleon in Paris while he was ruling Naples and Spain. They did not see each other for 26 years after Waterloo but were reunited in Italy at the end of their lives. Julie was at Joseph’s side when he passed away and only survived him by a year, they were buried next to each other in an Italian church alongside their daughter (Napoleon III had Joseph’s body dug up and reinterred alongside Napoleon in Paris).

Rather than being disliked by his Clary in-laws, Joseph and Étienne Clary worked as business partners to great success. With Julie’s considerable dowry and Napoleon’s extractions from the Italian campaign as capital, Joseph’s connections in Italy meant that he was able to access gold and silver money which they were able to use in France to buy property and commodities which were being valued in the increasingly worthless paper money printed by the revolutionary government. Joseph also successfully operated as supply contractor for the French army, using the Clary’s trade connections – Josephine was also dabbling in the same business and at one point Joseph and Josephine were bidding against each other for the same contract, both using Napoleon’s money. Joseph remained close to the Clarys throughout the period and two of Étienne’s sons and a son-in-law (who was also a first cousin of Josephine, small world) served as aides-de-camp and senior officers under Joseph in Naples and Spain. Joseph was devastated when the younger son, Joseph, died of illness in 1811 and personally wrote his obituary.

Part 1 of 4 (Apologies, this answer got out of hand)