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to provide for his family by breeding fowls and by 1804 had "24 of Fathens and Layes" although he was so often ill. His eldest son, James Hassall, worked with him in the "Shop at my own Bisness." His daughter, Sarah Hassall, "nurses", and his son, William Hassall, worked in St. John Gift shop. Joseph Hassall became a watchman and in 1841 when the Census was taken he was 45 years of age, living in Much Park Street, Coventry, with his wife, Elizabeth Hassall, aged 43, a silk weaver, and their two daughters. Ann aged 12 and Elizabeth aged 8. Sarah Hassall nee Claridge died on 13 January 1819. Her daughter, Sarah Hassall, wrote to Thomas Hassall then in England and informed him of her mother's death and that she would now take care of her brother John and sister Ann.
3. Rowland Hassall, baptised on 21 Febuary 1763 in St. John's, Coventry.
4. John Hassall baptised in 1764 in St. John's, Coventry.
5. Ann Hassall baptised on 7 September 1767 in St. John's, Coventry and died c. 1820.
6. Rowland Hassall, who was baptised in 1769 and came to Australia.
James Hassall seemed to be a man of strong faith and there have been suggestions that he or his parents could have been Quakers as there were many members of the Society of Friends in Coventry.
Rowland Hassall became a silk weaver, having been apprenticed to his father on 31 December 1781 when he was 12 years old, and was employed in the ribbon trade which grew up in Coventry at the end of the seventeenth century in response to the fashion for ribbons as part of wearing apparel. They were used for waist bands and for large decorative bows on women's dressses. They were necessary on caps, bonnets and hats.
He married Elizabeth Hancox at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Coventry in 1793. The witnesses were Thomas Hancox, probably the bride's brother, and James Hoggins. Rowland signed the certificate but Elizabeth signed with her mark. She was born on 19 July 1766 also at Coventry and also became a silk weaver. She was the daughter of John and Ann Hancox of Brandon, a village five miles to the east of Coventry. John Hancox was baptised on 7 October 1733 at Bretford, Warwickshire and was the son of John and Ann "Hancock", neither of whom signed their names on the marriage certificate. He married Ann Hom on 31 December 1757 at the parish church in the neighbouring village of Wolston. John appears to have been a weaver and Ann was 20 years old when she was married, the daughter of William and Frances Horn. The family left Brandon in the early 1780s and moved to Coventry. Ann died at Foleshill on 9 October 1797 after a lengthy illness described to the family by Thomas Hancox as follows: "Its the painful its pleasing to me and you to hear of our Dear Mothers Desease if you