There is this baptism on the LDS familysearch site which is a possibility Name: James Moss Gender: Male Baptism/Christening Date: 01 Jun 1800 Baptism/Christening Place: Little Braxted, Essex, England Father's Name: John Moss Father's Birthplace: Father's Age: Mother's Name: Elizabeth Mother's Birthplace: Mother's Age: Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I03390-7 System Origin: England-EASy Source Film Number: 1702172 Reference Number: Collection: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 Little Braxted is 5 miles from Hatfield Peverel according to Google maps - perhaps the family moved moved to Hatfield when he was a child and he thought that was where he was born, or perhaps Little Braxted was his mother's home parish and he was taken there to be baptised His year of birth would appear as 1801 on the census as his birthdate was in June Anne South Australia david moss wrote: > James Moss b1801 in "Hatfield" (he says on the 1851 Rochford census) d1859 > Great Stambridge. Have had ERO check all three Hatfields for his > birth/christening with no success. They also checked surrounding parishes > with no success. Does anybody have any information on his birth/christening > or can suggest alternate sources of this information? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

About three years ago I was involved in protracted research for and correspondence with David Moss about the origins of his ancestor James. I thought we had established the following facts about James, who died on 20 Oct. 1859 and was buried at Gt. Stambridge (where his tombstone shows his age as 58, as does the burial register). James was the son of James Moss, a farmer, according to his second marriage on 30 Nov 1838 at Rochford to Maria Peters, who was born about 1820. His first wife was Lucy, the widow of a Mr. Wright. She was buried 6 Jun 1837 at Rochford aged 46. James and Lucy were married at Runwell on 11 Nov 1823. So James first married a woman some ten years his senior, and then one about half his age! James’ second marriage was witnessed by Benjamin and Sarah Moss, who were farming at Barstable Hall in 1841; Benjamin was baptized at Gt Totham on 18 Nov 1804. His parents were James Moss and Martha Nunn, who were married 6 Oct 1803 at Gt Totham; both had been married before. The father James had (probably) previously married Sarah Chad on 7 May 1799 at Hatfield Peverel, and it seemed reasonable to assume that the James who died in 1859 was their son, although he wasn’t baptized there. There are quite a number of entries in the years before and just after 1800 for what appear to be several Moss families in Little Braxted, despite it being described in White’s 1848 directory as “a small parish, on the east side of the river Blackwater, one mile east of Witham, containing only 126 inhabitants, 563 acres of land, a few scattered houses and cottages, and a water mill”. The Braxteds adjoin Gt Totham parish, and all three are near to Hatfield Peverel (where there are quite a number of entries). But the Familysearch entry can’t be ‘our’ James if the father’s name on the 1828 marriage is correct. By 1841 no one named Moss lived in either Little or Great Braxted. James’ marriage to Lucy Wright at Runwell was witnessed by Susan Sains, and it seems likely she is the person who married Thomas Moss there in 1830. And it seems likely that it was this Thomas who witnessed the marriage of Benjamin Moss and Sarah Stock at Fobbing in 1829 (who are presumably the witnesses to James’ second marriage in 1838). My gut feeling is that the Moss line is centered around the parishes to the south of Witham (the Tothams, Braxteds, Hatfield Peverel etc.) at around the turn of the 18th century, and there was a drift to the southwest over the years. Certainly by the mid 19th century several of them were doing quite well. I suspect the widow Lucy Wright was either already related in some way to James’ family, or she was the legatee of her late husband's property. And I think it's also clear that James, Benjamin, and Thomas are all related, and may well be brothers - although James almost certainly is Benjamin's half brother. What needs to be done next in my view is to extract all of the Moss and related entries for the parishes where relevant records have already been found so as to piece a much larger tree together to prove where James fits in to it. I’d also look at wills and leases and farm accounts at the Essex Record Office – although this won’t be easy for David as he is in Canada. Dick Mathews On 6 May 2011 03:09, Anne Chambers <[email protected]> wrote: > There is this baptism on the LDS familysearch site which is a possibility > Name: James Moss > Gender: Male > Baptism/Christening Date: 01 Jun 1800 > Baptism/Christening Place: Little Braxted, Essex, England > > Father's Name: John Moss > Father's Birthplace: > Father's Age: > Mother's Name: Elizabeth > Mother's Birthplace: > Mother's Age: > Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I03390-7 > System Origin: England-EASy > Source Film Number: 1702172 > Reference Number: > Collection: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 > > Little Braxted is 5 miles from Hatfield Peverel according to Google maps - > perhaps the family moved moved to > Hatfield when he was a child and he thought that was where he was born, or > perhaps Little Braxted was his > mother's home parish and he was taken there to be baptised > > His year of birth would appear as 1801 on the census as his birthdate was > in June > > Anne > South Australia > > > david moss wrote: > > James Moss b1801 in "Hatfield" (he says on the 1851 Rochford census) > d1859 > > Great Stambridge. Have had ERO check all three Hatfields for his > > birth/christening with no success. They also checked surrounding > parishes > > with no success. Does anybody have any information on his > birth/christening > > or can suggest alternate sources of this information? > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >