did you know that there was a change in our calendar in 1752 there was and
it changed the way things were dated join me today on the ancestral findings podcast
and we'll try to figure it all out and get the date correct in your research
if you've done genealogy for any length of time you have probably come across a date
that is listed as two possible dates you may also stumble upon dating that looks different from your
standard day month year or month day year styles this can be confusing when you don't know exactly
what you're looking at of course you want to know what the real dates are as this is important to
the accuracy of your research as well as your understanding of it so let's take a look at
two common dating issues in genealogy research double dating and odd-looking dating as far as
double dating goes you will almost certainly eventually come across this if you go back far
enough in time into colonial America or England or Great Britain in the 18th century in fact the
pivotal year for double dating is 1750 - that was the year that England changed its calendar from
the julián to the Gregorian this calendar change made the first day and first month of the year
different from what it had been previously with the previously used Julian calendar the first
day of the year was March 25th that was when people celebrated New Year's Day the change to
the Gregorian calendar moved the first month and day of the year to January first this means people
born between January 1st and March 25th 17:52 may have double dating listed for them in genealogical
records one for what their birthday was under the Julian calendar and one for what it became when
England's dating changed to the Gregorian calendar this can be confusing but when you know the reason
for it being listed that way you at least know someone didn't make a mistake in the records
or wasn't sure when they listed a birthdate or death or marriage date in the same time period
quicker records make figuring things out a little bit more challenging because they list dates in
an odd way different from what we are used to in typical dating when you combine their odd style of
writing dates with the change in the calendars you can become really confused as to what the actual
real date is for which you're searching Quakers record dates with numbers for months rather than
names their records also do not include the names of the days of the week when other records might
use them they leave these names out because most of them were derived from the names of pagan gods
from the Roman Empire or sometimes the ancient Greek civilization two months are also named after
Roman leaders Julius Caesar for July and Caesar Augustus for August Quakers do not believe this
type of naming is appropriate for Christians to use therefore they leave out the names of the days
of the week entirely and use numbers for months instead of the names of the months because of
these beliefs Quaker dating looks much different from what we are used to for example they may
write a date of birth date or marriage as 18th day 10th mo 1731 or as 10 mo 18 da 1731 if you
know the numbers of each month you should be able to figure it out pretty easily naturally 10 mo
means October because October is the 10th month of the year at least it is with the Gregorian
calendar if you are using dates during the time the Julian calendar was being used 10 mo would be
January these are things you must take in against the duration carefully when ever dating something
using standard or quicker dating Styles that took place between 1751 and 1753 as some of the dates
in parts of these years might be affected by the calendar change that took place in 1750 to be sure
you are translating dates correctly whenever dealing with double dating or quicker dating
actually Quaker dating is something you need to be careful about transcribing and translating
correctly regardless of the calendar as it is done in a way with which most of us are not familiar it
is also very important to verify Quaker dates even in recorded sources that is because people
who transcribe those dates for published works such as books about genealogy or history may
have misinterpreted them and transcribed them incorrectly a good idea if you are working with a
lot of quaker records in your research is to read a book on how to use those records the uniqueness
of quaker records means that there are plenty of genealogy books written about them you can educate
yourself quite well with most of those books so choose the one you like to read the English
changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar because the Julian one did not accurately reflect
the amount of time it took the earth to revolve around the Sun when the change was made there
were eleven days skipped in September of seventeen fifty two and there was a February 30th that year
in England while England and the American colonies were the first to adopt the new calendar other
countries eventually did - it took 300 years for all the nations on earth to adopt the Gregorian
calendar which is named after the Pope who ordered and authorised the change Pope Gregory the eighth
as you can see dating isn't as straightforward as you may imagine in genealogy you must take
the change in calendars into consideration both before and after the calendar change in order
to get the correct date for any event you are recording you have to be even more careful to
analyze the date and be sure you're getting it right when you use quicker records dating
events in genealogy is a bit of an art form but one that is easy to learn once you know
about different dating styles and when different countries change to the Gregorian calendar you can
be pleased in knowing your genealogical research and understanding of it will always be correct
next time on the ancestral findings podcast I'll answer the questions who was Thomas
Jefferson beyond being our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence who
was he where did he come from what was his family like and what other contributions
did he make to our country copyright by ancestral findings all rights reserved
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