Moses NOKES was born in about 1723. The following is taken from The Nokes of Bromsgrove by David C B Nokes:
"He would have been a toddler when his father William emigrated to America. From an early age most likely he lived in the Bromsgrove Workhouse. There are no known early records of him, but as with two of his siblings before, he may well have been apprenticed by the Parish. If so, bearing in mind his future occupation, his master could have been a Carrier (a Waggoner plying his trade.)
The first record found for him, after appearing in his father's will in 1733, was his adult baptism in Bromsgrove Parish Church. The register entry records him to be 'aged 20 years & upwards'; he would have been around 22 years old. If he wished to marry in the Established Church or, equally, was to earn a decent living, then such a baptism may have been desirable for him in the market town of Bromsgrove."
His first wife was Hannah Bradley by whom he had two children: Anne in 1761, and Sarah who was buried in March 1763 shortly before her mother died in April.
In October that year Moses married Sarah HUGHES at Stoke Prior in 1763. Moses and Sarah NOKES baptized ten children starting with Thomas and Joseph both christened in 1764 and ending with Elizabeth christened in 1782.
Moses may have been a carrier. In the section on Bromsgrove, the Universal British Directory 1793-98 lists a Moses Noakes as the Worcester & Birmingham Carrier. This
could not refer to the Worcester & Birmingham canal as the construction was not approved until 1790 and not completed until 1815.