Calendar Change i
by Lisa South, Certified Genealogist
The following article was written in the May 5,
2005 OneGreatFamily newsletter. Since Lisa is no
longer writing for us, we are featuring some of our
favorite articles written by her.
I felt so smart!! They had just asked the $1,000,000
question on a popular game show and I knew the answer
(believe me, it was a first!) The reason I knew the
answer is because it was about the calendar change and,
as a genealogist, I had learned the importance of
understanding how this change affected historical
records.
During the time of Julius Caesar, the calendar was
very inaccurate, and he set about to improve it. He did
a great job, but there was still a small error - each
year, the calendar was over 11 minutes off. It doesn't
sound too important, but after 128 years it was a full
day off! By the time Pope Gregory XIII decided a change
had to be made, the calendar was 10 days behind the
actual time. In 1582, the Pope declared that the
Catholic world would begin using his new calendar, the
Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar is almost
perfect, but to bring the world up to the right starting
time, the Pope declared that the calendar would "skip"
the next 10 days and that October 4, 1582 would be
followed by October 15, 1582. New Year's day was also
changed from March 25th to January 1st.
Not everyone was ready to accept the new calendar.
There were even rioters who insisted that the 10 days be
given back to them. Not all countries were ready to make
this change. When doing your research, find out what
year the country you are researching changed over to the
Gregorian calendar.
Great Britain did not accept it until 1751. By that
Time, the Julian Calendar was 11 days off and so
Parliament declared that September 2, 1752 would be
followed by September 14, 1752. At the time, the
American Colonies were part of Britain and so this is
the year that the calendar change began impacting
American records.
Eleven days and a change in the beginning of the New
Year; is that really such a big deal? It can be! If you
are searching church baptismal records and you see a
record listing John, son of Henry Fear born the 5th of
April 1730, and another record that lists Anne, daughter
of Henry Fear born the 20th of March 1730, you might
conclude that these could not be siblings because they
were born just a few weeks apart. With a knowledge of
the calendar change, the evaluation would be quite
different. John was born the 5th of April and Anne was
born eleven months later on the 20th of March - just
before the New Year 1731 would begin (your need to
remember that the year did not change in January back
then).
In Quaker records, the month was usually represented
with numbers. Prior to the calendar change, it is
important to remember that the date the 3 of the seventh
month 1723 would mean the 3rd of September, not
July.
Often, you will see a date written Jan 12, 1757/8.
This is called double dating and is a result of the
calendar change. Beginning genealogists sometimes record
this as "either 1757 or 1758", but actually the date is
very precise. This person was born Jan 12, 1757 if using
the Julian (or O.S., Old Style ) calendar, but Jan 12,
1758 if you are reckoning by the Gregorian (or N.S., New
Style) calendar.
You will find double dating in the months January,
February and March (the ones affected by the change in
the New Year). Occasionally, you will find one in the
other months, but that is from someone doing it out of
habit (the way we write the wrong year the first few
months of a New Year). There were efforts to change the
calendar before it actually happened, and some began
double dating before the actual date of the calendar
change.
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