When was that?

In family history research, as in life itself, we often find ourselves dealing with a place in time. When did I do that? Was it last year? Calendars help us mark time and keep track of our scheduled activities. We might be a bit confused about when leap years occur, when Easter comes next year, or when we end daylight shifting to return to standard time. On the whole, however, we tend to think our calendar is pretty much fixed and we don’t give it much thought.

What day is it today? Here in the United States we’re observing Halloween, my dramatic niece’s favorite holiday. Children young and old dress in costumes and harvest treats from friends and neighbors. Witches, ghosts and bats are briefly popular. However, as we have seen in a previous article, that has not always been a matter for holiday mirth in our family. Dick Eastman has posted an interesting article about the impact of ancestors charged with witchcraft.

So what day is it? Well, that depends on what calendar you use. The Gregorian calendar that most of us use is not the only show in town. The Julian calendar that was replaced by the Gregorian calendar is still used by Orthodox Christians. We are aware that the Chinese New Year begins at an altogether different time than January 1. We know that Jewish holidays and Islamic observances are determined by different calendars.

Then, there is the issue of calendars changing over time. Pope Gregory VIII established the new, corrected calendar bearing his name in 1582. This calendar was adopted by decree in many Roman Catholic countries but was not used by Protestant countries until various later times. The British Empire finally switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

Another complicating factor in genealogical research was the mixed reckoning of when the year began. Before we adopted the Gregorian calendar, the new year was considered to begin with the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. March had been the first month of the year, which was reflected in the names September, October, November and December as the seventh through tenth months. However, calendars starting with January were already in use, resulting in double-dating of the year for nearly three months. Another recent article by Dick Eastman explains these calendar changes in greater detail.

The wonderful puzzle of family history requires an open mind and awareness of how jurisdictions and time itself have changed over time. Research is more interesting than you might think.