Questions tagged [date]

For questions about interpreting dates in genealogical sources in the context of historic calendar systems.

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Date representation in GEDCOM X for calendars other than Gregorian

Gedcom X date format specification (https://github.com/FamilySearch/gedcomx/blob/master/specifications/date-format-specification.md) defines the string representation for Gregorian dates. However, I ...
Mayor Ploy's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
55 views

Help on date written in Suetterlin

I am looking for some help reading these two dates, one at the opening of the letter saying that parents' letter was received, and the other at the closing of the letter from Konrad Gradl. (Peculiar &...
widsith's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
486 views

Format a large amount of dates

I recently got access to some of my grandpas genealogy research, which I have imported to Gramps as a ".ged"-file. Many of the dates are in a format which Gramps doesn't understand: Is ...
Ludwiggle's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
48 views

Dating entry in Collections for a history of Staffordshire

In Collections for a history of Staffordshire (1903), via the Internet Archive, I have found an entry that may or may not relate to a direct ancestor of mine named William Fletcher: Staff". John ...
PolyGeo's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
42 views

How can a gravestone and death certificate be a year out? [duplicate]

Of a death certificate and a gravestone, which record should be trusted more in determining birth date? is a similar question and I was interested in rolling out my own question on this subject. My ...
Andrew Truckle's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
36 views

Interpreting genealogical dates [duplicate]

Example: So when was Mary actually baptized? 1744 or 1745 ? Is there something I need to understand about why it would have been reported with two different dates?
BobE's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
310 views

Interpreting dates in German church registers from 18th century?

Working with 18th century church records, I found two confusing date entries that I have a hard time wrapping my head around: The records are from the Untertürkheimer Kirchenbuch (1694-1800), which ...
user3697176's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
131 views

Reading Latin date description in 18th century German church record?

This record of my x-gg's brother shows a wedding date recorded from the church calendar. What does this mean? (I read the header as "Fer. II Pascs." -- is that perchance Easter Monday?)
user3697176's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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Recording dates from old documents?

This is a follow-up to: Interpreting 17th century German dates? In documents available to me I have both absolute dates (e.g., 2 March 1648) and relative dates (e.g., 2. post trin. 1649). Since the ...
user3697176's user avatar
  • 1,601
5 votes
1 answer
365 views

Interpreting 17th century German dates?

I am working on the biography of a distant relative, Anna Bertschinger. The hand-written notes I got handed down from my grandfather state: verm. 2. post trin. 1649 I understand that this refers ...
user3697176's user avatar
  • 1,601
2 votes
1 answer
65 views

Determining date for Quaker wedding?

A wedding invitation states: Fourth day, fourth month eleventh What is the date for a non Quaker guest?
Christopher Brown's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
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What does "living 15 Rich. II" mean for the year an ancestor was alive in England?

What does "living 15 Rich. II" mean for the year an ancestor was alive in England? This is a notation used in the British Roots of Maryland Families II by Robert W. Barnes regarding the Bysshe Family....
Stephanie's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
271 views

What month does Xemb. mean?

I find The Parish Register of Christ Church, Middlesex County, Va., from 1653 to 1812 that reads in part: Sarah Trigg ye dautr of Daniell & Susannah Trigg baptz 26th of Xemb. 1686 I'm guessing ...
WilliamKF's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
354 views

Should the GRO Birth Index year be entered as birth year?

The GRO Index, both the old and new versions, is the cornerstone of genealogy in England and Wales. So much so that for years I have been making certain assumptions based on GRO Index data. For ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
203 views

Calculating accurate durations between two historical dates, is it even possible?

Some popular genealogy programs calculate durations (the time elapsed between two dates) as a convenience. For example, informing you of a calculated length of life, and/or the age of an individual on ...
Dave's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
5k views

Meaning of "Tuesday last" and "Monday week"?

I'm reading a newspaper article from Friday, 10 Feb 1843, from the Coventry Herald: In the births, marriages, and deaths column, dates are commonly represented as "On the 2nd inst." or "On the 29th ...
Harry V.'s user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
276 views

Puzzling Swiss/French date abbreviation?

Does anyone know what the capital 'I' might represent in this date? There is no French month that begins with 'I', and the document uses numbers for months as well as spelled out month names ...
Kary's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
78 views

What are the dates on these documents?

This document from a Mississippi probate record has what appears to be a date at the top: Later on the page, I see: The following page shows this date: What are these dates? Is what looks to me ...
Ellen Spertus's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
501 views

Proper British birth date syntax?

I happened to come across a Wikipedia page that showed birth dates of a man's children and wives. Their birth dates appeared to have the format, "b. Q4, 1968" as opposed to what his birth date was ...
Jason P Sallinger's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
180 views

How to interpret Quaker dates entered after 1752 but referring to before 1752?

Consider the following Quaker document: http://sharing.ancestry.com/5454387?h=94e830 Which Ancestry.com shows as having these details for Hannah Wright: Name: Hannah Wright Birth Date: 27 Nov ...
WilliamKF's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Interpreting Quaker dates in eleventh or twelfth month with only one year?

If I have a Quaker date that only lists one year and is in the eleventh or twelfth month, should I assume it is Julian year and not Gregorian? For example, see this entry: http://sharing.ancestry....
WilliamKF's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
654 views

What does this Y symbol abbreviate in a Quaker birth record?

You can view the document here: http://sharing.ancestry.com/5447249?h=386203 For each birth, it reads something like this example: Mary Wright (Daughter of James Wright & Mary his wife) was ...
WilliamKF's user avatar
  • 5,307
3 votes
2 answers
166 views

Interpreting 29 Feb 1797 (non-leap year) for baptism of Thomas Hitchcox in Lapley, Staffordshire, England?

The baptism record of my 3rd great grandfather Thomas Hitchcox (son of Thomas and Hannah) at Lapley, Staffordshire, England, appears to clearly state the date of that event as being 29 Feb 1797 (see ...
PolyGeo's user avatar
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27 votes
1 answer
7k views

What is the significance of the character "j" at the end of a Roman Numeral?

While using an old (1907) book of transcriptions (on-line) The Parish Register of Gargrave in the County of York , I was puzzled by the number of dates recorded in the 16th and early 17th centuries ...
Fortiter's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
235 views

October 2nd or 20th?

Below is an image I'm trying studying to find a marriage date. It's either the 2nd or 20th of October, 1834. I know that in some handwriting they used an ordinal indicator such as 1o to signify first, ...
tralston's user avatar
  • 205
5 votes
1 answer
224 views

Dates in 19th century German records

Recently, I had some German (Pfalz, Bavaria) records from the ealry 1800s translated. The records contained dates that were specified in an unusual format, and I was curious to know what these were. ...
Gene Golovchinsky's user avatar
10 votes
5 answers
9k views

What is a "double date"?

What is a "double date"? Why do I sometimes see dates written as January 13, 1718/1719? See also: How do I write the year with a double date?
bstpierre's user avatar
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15 votes
7 answers
2k views

How do I write the year with a double date?

If I have a date on a birth certificate that says: "January 13, 1719", do I write the year as 1719, 1718/19, or 1719/20 (the latter two being double dates). What if the date is April 28, 1719? ...
lkessler's user avatar
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