Hi saw119,

The fact that the marriage entry for John & Elizabeth states that they were "of the parish", doesn't necessarily mean they were born in Tollesbury, merely living there when they married.

As for his claims to have been born in Tollesbury that might be only where he thinks he was born because he grew up there and has no memories of a previous parish. I'm sure no end of people on this site have ancestors who stated in Censuses they were born in a certain parish, for any number of reasons, but weren't.

Keep in mind that prior to 1837 when Births Marriages & Deaths started to be registered, people didn't have that piece of paper (birth cert) showing them when and where they were born. Even after 1837 up until 1874 (or 1875?) when it became mandatory to register BMDs, they might still not have that piece of paper.

Regards.