The obvious statement is that you will not find his 'birth certificate' as these were not introduced until 1837 - your best hope is a record of his baptism. The problem here is that there has never been a 'legal' requirement to have a child baptised and many families didn't bother.especially if they were Baptists or Quakers who do not practice infant baptism. On top of this, if they had the child baptised at a parish church this doesn't necessarily happen at the parish church where they lived, or within a short time of the birth. I have looked up to 1806 at the Hatfield Peverel registers and couldn't see any Moss baptised there. Many families would wait until several children were going to be baptised, then save up their money to take the whole brood to, say, the parish church of one of the grandparents or other relative and have all the baptisms at the same time. You might even find other family members baptising their children at the same time - any excuse for a party! Or they might not get on with the vicar at their local church and prefer another priest to perform the ceremony at a nearby parish. Sorry I can't be more positive, you will have to think laterally. Wher do grandparents live, where do aunts and uncles live, what parishes are round there, where did they get married, etc. You can also sign up for Essex Ancestors at http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/EssexAncestors.aspx and look at online digitised copies of the registers.There are a range of chargeable options from 1 day to 1 year (GBP5.00 to GBP 75.00) any of which may be cheaper than travelling to Chelmsford -----Original Message----- From: david.moss To: essex-uk <essex-uk@rootsweb.com> From: David Moss Sent: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:05:33 -0700 Subject: [Ess] Moss of Hatfield Peverel Here I am, back again after a long time and still with much the same problem. James Moss death certificate says he died 20th October 1859 registration district Rochford, aged 58 years (confirmed on his grave marker in Great Stambridge Parish churchyard) therefore birth date would be 1801. Census 1851 says he was born in Hatfield (probably Peverel). After looking everywhere I can think of, I still cannot find his birth certificate so I can get his parents and make some progress. So frustrating! Please, can anyone help? I have received a lot of information from mailing listers in the past, but I believe I must have his birth certificate in order to not continue on guesswork. Anyone with any advice?