Moses Hezelwood

Moses Hezelwood was a cabinet maker in Whitby, Yorkshire. He was born on 23 March 1777 in Ruswarp, Yorkshire to Thomas and Mary, and christened on 15 June 1777 in Whitby. He had four siblings: Thomas Hezelwood (1766–1781), Hannah Hezelwood (b. 21 May 1768), John Hezelwood (b. 7 August 1774) and Aaron Hezelwood (b. 30 May 1779).

He married Elizabeth Mead on 22 April 1802 in Whitby, Yorkshire. They had eight children: Mary Hezelwood (1805--1887), \bioref{Elizabeth_Hezelwood}, Isabella Hazelwood (1808–1882), Sarah Hazelwood (1811–?), Francis Medd Hazelwood (1813–), Thomas Hezelwood (1813/4–1851), Francis Hazelwood (1816–?) and Trufit Mead Hazelwood (1817–?). (According to notes made by his grandson, Thomas Henry Barker, Moses was of ``old Yorkshire parentage, probably of the family of Hesslewood (Danes) superceded by the Vavasours.'' Also according to these notes, he and Elizabeth had 17 children, of whom only 4 reached maturity: but this is unverified.)

In 1803 he joined the British Volunteer Corps when it was reformed in response to Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. He achieved the rank of Sargent.

In 1812 he became a Master Mason (when he died he was the oldest member of the Yorkshire lodge).

In 1841 he was living in Bathgate, Whitby and by 1851 he was a lodger at 7 Flowergate, Whitby, Yorkshire and he was employed as a Cabinetmaker and Mason. He was a member of the Freemason Lodge.

It seems that at one point in his life he was bankrupt: the following is taken from the London Gazette, 1854:

He was a keen walker (once walking 70 miles in a single day) and fisherman.

He survived his wife by 32 years.

By 1861 he was retired and living in Bagdale, just outside Whitby. After he retired from business, he moved to a house in Bagdale in Whitby. He died aged ninety, and is buried in Sneaton church-yard.

A Moses Hazelwood is mentioned in the Whitby Gazette in 1865 as an "oldest inhabitant" (in an article about the coming Whitby to Scarborough railway line).

Moses died on 14 February 1868 in Whitby, Yorkshire, and was buried on 18 February 1868 in Sneaton Churchyard, Whitby, Yorkshire and a note made by his daughter Elizabeth reads: "Dear Father died on the 14th February 1868 at Whitby in his ninety-first year."