DICK EASTMAN, POPULAR NEWSLETTER AUTHOR,
COMING TO SGS SEMINAR THIS FALL
Eastman’s On Genealogy Newsletter by Dick Eastman is a vastly popular, widely read site. I’m sure most of you have read his Free Standard Edition and gleaned a lot of useful information from it. And I’m also sure many of you subscribe to his reasonably priced Plus Edition. It costs about $.38 a week, as either $19.95 a year, or $5.95 per quarter. The Plus Edition has more articles and no advertising.
Since you enjoy his newsletter so much, come see him live at the fall seminar. Mark it on your calendar. Save the date.
DOUBLE DATING AND OTHER WOES
“In 1752, England changed her calendar, too” is a little rhyme I made up to help me remember the year England and her colonies, including here in America, switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. This was much later than most other countries.
As a quick recap, there was a Roman calendar, a Julian calendar, and finally the Gregorian calendar. Many countries switched over to the Gregorian calendar between 1582 and 1701, but as mentioned, England didn’t switch until 1752. I thought this date thing was pretty straight forward, but soon learned it could be rather sticky.
In the Roman and Julian calendar, September, October, November, and December were the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months, respectively. Great, and easy to remember; Octo is eight, not ten. The Roman calendar only had ten months, and for all practical purposes in the Julian calendar, January and February are the 11th and 12th months, because the year ends on March 24th and the new year begins on March 25th. Therefore March 24, 1748 is followed by March 25, 1749, and March is considered the 1st month.
But between 1582 and 1752, not only were two calendars in use , but two different starts of the year were in use in England. Although the “Legal” year began on March 25, the use of the Gregorian calendar by other countries led to January 1 becoming commonly celebrated as “New Year’s Day” and given as the first day of the year in almanacs. To avoid misinterpretation, both the “Old Style” and “New Style” year was often used in English and colonial records for dates falling between the new New Year (January 1) and old New Year (March 25), a system known as “double dating” or “dual dates”. Such dates use a slash mark or dash as a break between the “Old Style” and “New Style” year. As example: March 19, 1748/9
To further complicate things, the Germans and the Dutch had switched to the Gregorian calendar much earlier than 1752, so in records kept by them in America, they would use the Gregorian date instead of the Julian date the majority English colonists were using. All these things that need to be considered, create a challenge for genealogists.
Recently I was thrilled to find my ancestors’ marriage noted in “Massachusetts, Springfield, Vital Records, 1638-1887” online at FamilySearch. I’d found this data in an index years ago, but this was the image itself. Yeah! I had recorded it previously as November 7, 1661. This image showed “joyned in marriage ye 7 of ye 9 mon 1661”. FamilySearch interpreted that as September 7, 1661. “Probably should be November 7, 1661”, I thought, “But which is it?”. I was unable to come to a definitive conclusion. Looking for clues, an entry I found for another couple stated “joyned in marriage the 31 day of ye 4 mon 1661”. Oops, no help since neither June or April have 31 days, I can’t deduce anything from this entry.
Let’s muddy the water even further and mention the 11 days deliberately missing from September 1752. If you’re interested in more details on calendar change challenges, I found William Dollarhide’s paper is a great resource. Remember him from the SGS seminar last year?
Here’s a link to his paper:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cacvgs2/Articles/Misc/calendar_change.pdf
SAVE THE DATES
NW Genealogy Conference 2017,
Arlington, WA
August 16 – 19
The Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society is putting on their annual four day conference. Remember the first day is geared toward beginners and is free. Among those presenting is current SGS president, Jill Morelli, past SGS vice president, Janice Lovelace, and active SGS member, Mary Kircher Roddy. Visit their website for more information, to register for the conference, or to register for the free day: www.nwgc.org
Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS),
2017 Conference – “Building Bridges to the Past”,
Pittsburgh, PA
August 30 – September 2, 2017
Ready for a road trip? This conference is open to anyone with an interest in family history. FGS is teaming up with the Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society to put on this four day events. There will be various tracks to suit the individual researcher; beginner to experienced.
For more info visit : fgs.org
SGS 2017 Fall Seminar
Speaker: Dick Eastman
Fairview Christian School,
Seattle, WA
October 21, 2017
SGS is excited to have Dick Eastman for the Fall Seminar. Registration will open in early September. Mark your calendar.
SGS CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Unless otherwise indicated all programs will be at the SGS Library, 6200 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle. Check the SGS Web Site for additions, changes, and corrections. Programs may be canceled or postponed because of inclement weather. The Family Tree Interest Group with Lou Daly will not meet in July, August, or September. The Irish, German, and Canadian Interest Groups do not meet in June, July, or August; they will return to their regular schedule in the fall. The SGS Library will closed September 2 – 4 for Labor Day weekend.
AUGUST
Sunday, August 6, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm, Scandinavian Interest Group, Karen Knudson, leader, and Kathy McGinnes say, “Last month’s workshop had several successes so we’re going to do it again. Please bring your problems and questions to the meeting and we’ll try to solve your mystery.”
Saturday, August 12, 1:00 pm- 3:00 pm, Family Tree Maker (FTM) Users Group, members helping one another with Family Tree Maker (FTM) the tool long associated with Ancestry.com; Reiley Kidd and Betty Ravenholt are the leaders.
Sunday, August 13, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm, FamilySearch : The Other 70%, Did you know that when you do a surname search in FamilySearch you are only accessing 30% of the digitized records? FamilySearch is putting records online faster than they are indexing. Learn how to access these valuable online records. This skill will become more important as FamilySearch discontinues their film loan program the end of August 2017.
Wednesday, August 16, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm, Beginning Genealogy Class with SGS past president, Linda Fitzgerald. Feel free to bring your brown bag lunch.