Hi David Birth certificates did not exist until 1 July 1837. For ancestors born before that date you will have to rely on an entry in a baptismal register which may or may not show his actual date of birth. Did James marry? If so, you can get his father's name from his marriage certificate. Then you need to head off to SEAX, the online arm of the ERO, where for a small fee you can browse the relevant registers. Hope this helps Caroline Sent from my iPad On 13 Apr 2013, at 02:05, david moss <mossdavid1@gmail.com> wrote: > 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? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message