The parents of Joseph Haley are not known.

Details of Joseph's birth are not known.

Joseph married Sarah ??????

Details of Joseph's marriage are not known.

He had the following children from his marriage to Sarah ??????:

- William Haley	born around 1813 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.
- Thomas Haley	born around 1814 in Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, Yorkshire.

Joseph was a Cloth Dresser.

Cloth-dressers (croppers) were workers in the woollen industry who had the task of cutting the cloth after it had been in the fulling mill. The cropper's skill was to cut the surface of the cloth after it had been raised with shears. These shears weighed 40 lb (18 kg) and were 4 feet (1.2 km) long. Croppers were well paid and resisted attempts by their employers to introduce the shearing frame at the beginning of the 19th century.