_{<< Julian vs. Gregorian Calendars}

Feast Days & Other Special Dating Terms

Archaic terms are common in older records, and dates don't escape this usage. The term instant, for example, (e.g. "in the 8th instant" refers to the 8th of this month). A corresponding term, ultimo, refers to the previous month (e.g. "the 16th ultimo" means the 16th of last month). Examples of other archaic usage you may encounter include Tuesday last, referring to the most recent Tuesday, and Thursday next, meaning the next Thursday to occur.

Quaker-Style Dates

Quakers typically did not use the names of the months or days of the week because most of these names were derived from pagan gods (e.g. Thursday came from “Thor’s Day”). Instead, they recorded dates using numbers to describe the day of the week and month of the year:

7th da 3rd mo 1733

Converting these dates can be especially tricky because the Gregorian calendar change must be taken into account. The first month in 1751, for example, was March, while the first month in 1753 was January. When in doubt, always transcribe the date exactly as written in the original document.

Other Calendars to Consider

When researching in France, or in countries under French control, between 1793 and 1805, you'll probably encounter some strange looking dates, with funny-sounding months and references to the "year of the Republic." These dates reference the French Republican Calendar, also commonly referred to as the French Revolutionary calendar. There are many charts and tools available to help you convert those dates back into standard Gregorian dates. Other calendars you may encounter in your research include the Hebrew calendar, the Islamic calendar and the Chinese calendar.

Date Recording for Accurate Family Histories

Different parts of the world record dates differently. Most countries write out a date as month-day-year, for example, while in the U.S. the day is commonly written before the month. This makes little difference when the dates are written out, as in the above examples, but when you run across a date written 7/12/1969 it is hard to know whether it refers to July 12th or December 7th. To avoid confusion in family histories, it is standard convention to use the day-month-year format (23 July 2004) for all genealogical data, with the year written out in full to avoid confusion about which century it refers to. Months are generally written out in full, although standard 3 letter abbreviations may be used. When in doubt about a date, record it exactly as written in the original source and include your interpretation in square brackets.