James HASLEWOOD (or other spelling variants) was a carpenter from Kirby Bellars in the County of Leicester.
He baptized four children with Mary, but no marriage for a James HASLEWOOD (or variants) can be found. Records for Asfordby, the next nearest village, don't go back that far so it's likely that they are now lost.
In his will of 1718 he left his two-handed saw, iron wedges, 1 1/4" bitt and his felling axe to his son Robert, and the remainder of his tools to his sons Robert and James equally. His son James' son James received the "Great Bible". His daughter Mary was made Executrix and received everything else.
No baptism of a Robert HASLEWOOD (or variants) has been found, other than the one baptized by Robert and Francisca HASELWOOD in Kirby Bellars in 1678, who was probably a nephew. If is possible that he or another Robert was adopted, but the baptism record may simply be missing.
The sequencing of names in James' will suggests that Robert was the eldest, but the Great Bible would likely have been passed down to the first-born male child. As such I suspect that James was James' first son, and Robert is the second surviving (natural or adopted) son.
