Calendar Whiplash in the Hudson Valley 17th Century

I have written before about keeping track of what calendar is being used with my Eastern European ancestors, since some territory went back and forth between Julian and Gregorian depending upon changing government borders. 

I was not aware that there was even greater confusion in North America. In general, one is told that the British colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. And that is that. Of course, Britain was not the only one to have colonies in North America. The Netherlands were an early adopter of the Gregorian Calendar.

My ancestor, Myndert Frederickse (and his brother Carsten) were among the founders of the First Lutheran Church of Albany. In a history of the church (Swan of Albany, Henry H. Heins, 1976) there is a discussion about the calendar changes for the Hudson Valley.

1664 - The British annex New Netherland

It is difficult to ascertain the exact date of the British annexation of New Netherland beyond “late summer, 1664,” because at that time there was a difference of ten days between the calendar used by the Dutch and that used by the English. The Netherlands had already switched from the Julian (Old Style) to the Gregorian (New Style) calendar in 1583, while the English would not do so until 1752. Thus in 1664, the Dutch settlers’ calendars were ten days ahead of the ones used by their new government. 

With Peter Stuyvesant’s surrender, therefore, the calendar went back to Old Style in the Hudson Valley, and the dates of the previous week or two were relived for a second time by the Lutherans and everyone else who was already there. (P. 15) 

1673 - The Dutch retake the colony. 

Since the Dutch naturally retook the colony with every intention of holding on to it, the restoration of the Dutch calendar (New Style) quickly resulted. The ten days that were added in 1664 were taken away again: anyone in New Orange or Willemstadt who had a birthday during the changeover lost it in 1673. (P. 20)

1674 - Less than a year later, the Dutch lost the colony again. 

The days of the week were the same on both calendars, and the actual day of the changeover — October 31 (OS) November 10 (NS) was a Saturday. This made the transition easier, but it also meant, since the difference was not 14 but only 10 days, that the dates of the month which then had to be repeated fell on different days of the week than they had the first time around. Here is how the month of November was actually observed in the year 1674, as we have reconstructed the situation: (P. 21)

The author then explains that this was at the tail end of the Trinity season on the liturgical calendar. Apparently there are 27 readings for a potential 27 Sundays between Easter and Advent, though a 27th Sunday is rare. Unfortunately, Easter fell early in 1674, and a November with Six Sundays created a 28th Sunday before Advent. The author wonders whether the pastor preached the same sermon twice.  

Any dates for events in this time period for the Dutch colonies need to be looked at carefully to ascertain what calendar is most likely being used.

Checking the Calendar

A summary of past posts on this topic.

(The above video was created from a still wedding-day photo colorized and animated using MyHeritage software)

My Great-Grandfather, Barney Newmark, was born in 1886, 135 years ago. He celebrated his birthday on March 17th, and claimed to have been born in Dublin, Ireland. It's significantly more likely that he was born in Warka, Poland - on the outskirts of Warsaw. The dates of March 25th and April 14th also appear on some documents as his date of birth, but no birth records have been uncovered, so anything is possible.

There may be some significance to the fact that there are 20 days between March 25th and April 14th. 12 days adjustment between the Gregorian and Julian calendar, and 8 days between birth and circumcision. Due to a superstition against celebrating birthdays, it was common for Eastern European Jewish males to celebrate the dates of their circumcision instead. I have uncovered several instances in my tree where there are birth records, that the observed birthday was 20 days later.

There is another possibility with Barney. There are also 8 days between March 17th and March 25th. And April 14 is exactly 1 lunar month after March 17. What’s the importance of a lunar month? Not much I can find - except when converting to the Hebrew calendar, Barney was born in the 2nd leap month of Adar. In leap years on the Hebrew calendar there are two months of Adar. Those born in Adar II are *supposed* to observe their birthday in Adar in non-leap years. But some people born on Feb 29 observe their birthday on the 28th and others on March 1. If Barney decided to adjust forward a month it would explain all three dates. It would also make March 17 his actual date of birth, which would make several in my family happy. In this scenario none of the dates are Julian. Without being able to ask Barney directly, though, this is all supposition.

This just illustrates when there is some conflict between dates in records, check the calendars. Plural. In some cases, more than 2.

In 2007 I wrote a blog post about Barney for St Patrick’s Day and a friend sent me a census record they found online. My eyes were opened to internet genealogy and the rest is Family History.

Happy Hanuka!

Hanuka isn’t going to be celebrated for a couple weeks. It begins on the evening of December 2nd, this year. However, tomorrow is the day Hanuka would fall on if instead of the Hebrew calendar, we used the Gregorian calendar. The 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev in 164 BCE fell on November 21.

Of course, Pope Gregory hadn’t been born yet in 164 BCE. Jesus hadn’t been born yet. Not only was there no such thing as the Gregorian calendar, Julius Caesar hadn’t been born, so there was no Julian Calendar.

Moreover, the Hebrew calendar wasn’t standardized yet. Each Hebrew month began after two people declared they saw the crescent moon. So two different communities could be slightly off from one another, but each month there was a reboot.

So November 21 is an estimate.
The 25th of Kislev is an estimate too.

Happy Hanuka!

Further Coincidence?

Last January I blogged about a mathematical coincidence. For three Jewish kin, there are records claiming alternate birth dates approximately 20 days apart. Adjusting for the 12 days conversion between Julian and Gregorian calendars, this leaves approximately 8 days - which could be explained if one of the dates is actually the date of their Brit Milah. (Covenant of Circumcision).

I didn't mention it last week in the Amanuensis Monday notes, but Max Kruvand's Petition for Naturalization states he was born on August 22, 1897, and his record of birth in Lithuanian records states August 3. So it's now four kin. (Three from Lithuania, one from Poland.)

I am unaware of a religious tradition of observing the anniversary of a brit milah (Outside of Christian tradition - of course, the Feast of the Circumcision could have Jewish roots.) I know that celebrating birthdays was not considered appropriate in traditional European Jewish households. There was the superstition that it was tempting the 'evil eye'. Celebrating any anniversary connected to birth would likely be seen similarly. However, it is conceivable that the date of birth wasn't recorded in some family records, but the Brit Milah would have been, due to its religious significance.

There is No Federal Holiday Called, "President's Day."

George Washington's Birthday is celebrated as a federal holiday on the third Monday in February. It is one of eleven permanent holidays established by Congress. 

Federal holidays apply only to the federal government and the District of Columbia; Congress has never declared a national holiday binding in all states and each state decides its own legal holidays.

[...]

Contrary to popular belief, neither Congress nor the President has ever stipulated that the name of the holiday observed as Washington's Birthday be changed to "President's Day."

 Source: National Archives

Of course...state governments, schools, or the company you work for, can call a holiday whatever they want to call it. They can also declare the holiday celebrates whatever they want it to celebrate.  But the Federal Holiday that is today is only for George Washington.

Ironically...Washington was born on February 11, 1731 (while the Julian calendar was still in use.)  This became February 22nd, 1732 when we switched to the Gregorian Calendar.  The earliest the Third Monday of February can fall is February 15th.  The latest it can fall is February 21.  It is impossible for the Federal Holiday "Washington's Birthday" to be celebrated on Washington's real birthday, according to either the Julian or Gregorian calendar.

MyHeritage Family Tree Builder - Date and Language functions

MyHeritage announced they had a free Mac version of their Family Tree Builder database software, so I decided to download it and give it a try. Not only because it was free, but I was hopeful it would handle something better than my current program. Hebrew calendar dates. I had good reason to be hopeful, MyHeritage is headquartered in Israel. I wasn't disappointed.

MyHeritage allows you to enter all dates in one of three calendars - Standard (Gregorian), Hebrew, and French Revolutionary Calendar. (The last surprised me at first. However, MyHeritage may have a sizable French user base, as the software appears to be written to appeal to an international audience.) It also provides easy conversion between these systems. I am somewhat disappointed that they haven't added the Julian calendar to this component, but perhaps they will at some point.

After I imported my database, this is what my second great grandmother's entry looked like at first:

I clicked on Edit in the lower right.

[Note: I know her death place, cause of death, and burial location. This information is in the Notes section. I haven't always entered it into the separate fields.]

 I clicked on the calendar icon next to the deceased date on the right side.

I clicked the convert button.  (The very first time I had to use the pull down menu to select "Standard to Hebrew." After that it defaults to the last used option.)

After clicking OK this is how her entry looks, with the Hebrew date in brackets:

It would seem nice if there was a way to automatically convert every date in the database with one click, instead of going through and doing it individually. However, it would be wrong for the software to encourage the genealogist to do this since the conversion depends on whether each event was before or after sunset. (The Hebrew calendar date starts at sunset.)

It is also possible to add a secondary language for entering data. In the "Tools" menu, select Languages.

You will see this menu:

 Select the checkbox indicating you want a secondary language, and click OK

You will be given a list of 40 languages!

I chose Hebrew, and this is now how my second great grandmother's "Edit Details" screen appears:

The order of information in the Hebrew language date is unusual.  It reads: February 1924 , 8 Adar A 5684 13. I am unsure why the Hebrew date is embedded within the Standard date in this manner.

If I click on "Names" I am given several fields, including "Religious Name," which will be useful for me, as well as both a "Maiden Name" and "Former Last Name." The latter would be useful for those who have multiple marriages.

Visually, I don't find the software's interface as appealing as my current software. However, its features could win me over. Currently I find it annoying that every time I load the software it asks me if I want to sync it with my "own family site" on MyHeritage. I don't have a family site on MyHeritage, and I don't want one right now. If anybody knows how to turn this pop-up off, let me know.

The software is free, though, so it's hard to get too upset.

Mathematical Curiosity - Coincidence?

My 2nd great grandfather, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, was born on June 12, 1858, according to Lithuanian records.

His St. Louis, Missouri death certificate states he was born on July 1. A difference of 19 days.

Family researchers have always figured that it was close enough that the individual in the Lithuanian records had to be the same. However, is it possible to explain the difference by the fact that he was born in Lithuania between 1800-1918? (See my post Saturday on Julian and Gregorian dates in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the Russian Empire)

Julian to Gregorian conversion covers only 12 of those days - leaving 7 days to explain.

*

My great grandfather, Barney Newmark, said he was born on March 25th, 1886 on his Petition of Naturalization, and said April 14th on his Draft Registration.

He was born in Warka, Poland - during the time of Russian control of the area.

There are 20 days between March 25 and April 14 - leaving 8 days to explain after calendar conversion.

*

Moshe Leyb's son, Arkan-Ber was born on Dec 11, 1882 according to Lithuanian records.

Moshe Leyb's son Benjamin, according to St. Louis records, was born on January 3, 1883. A difference of 22 days. 10 Days after conversion.

Family researchers have figured these are the same individuals as well. The Yiddish name Ber (meaning 'Bear') commonly got changed to Benjamin in America. Furthermore, his tombstone says his Hebrew name was Ahron Dov. Dov is Hebrew for Bear, so this is a match. As far as I can tell, Arkan isn't a Hebrew name, but Ahron (Aaron) most definitely is.

*

The 7, 8 and 10 day differences are pretty close to each other. We'd have to assume this was a coincidence, unless there was something that happened around 7-10 days after a child was born that could possibly be observed annually.

Since all three individuals were Jewish boys, there is - a Brit Milah. Though I've never heard of a tradition of observing this anniversary, like a baptismal date for those of the Christian faith, it is a date that might be recorded by the family.

According to Jewish Law, a Brit Milah can't occur before 8 days have elapsed, so this isn't a perfect explanation for Moshe Leyb Cruvant. But being off one day could be attributed to mathematical error in conversion, clerical error in the Lithuanian records, or several other factors.

Brit Milahs are supposed to occur on the 8th day, and not be postponed, even for Shabbat or any other holiday. However, they can be postponed for health reasons, or in order to find an appropriate Mohel (the Hebrew word for the person who performs the circumcision.) Either of these may have been the case for Arkan-Ber/Benjamin Cruvant.

*

Or, of course, this could all be coincidence. Slight differences in birth dates between records isn't uncommon. Just because the difference falls roughly the same for all three of these kin doesn't mean it's for the same reason. But still, it's a very intriguing possibility.

*

I'll also note that my great grandfather, Barney, celebrated his birthday on March 17th. (He also claimed at times to have been born in Ireland, instead of Poland. There was a significant Irish community in St. Louis, and he may have thought it to be more advantageous to be Irish and born on St. Patrick's Day than Polish.) To my knowledge, he never wrote this date down on an official document, though. Which suggests to me he knew that it wasn't his official date of birth. However, some family members have grown attached emotionally to the date and seek evidence that it might be the correct date.

If we ignore the Draft Registration, and note that Poland seems to have used both calendars simultaneously while under Russian control, so Julian-Gregorian conversion might not have been necessary - there are 8 days between March 17th and March 25th.

*

Finally - an old joke:

Jacob's watch broke while traveling in a small Eastern European town. He saw a shop with watches and clocks hanging in the window, so he opened the door.
"Can I help you?" asked the man behind the counter.
"My watch is broken, can you fix it?" Jacob asked, relieved the guy spoke some English.
"No, sorry, we don't fix watches," the proprietor responded.
"Do you sell watches?" Jacob asked.
"No."
"Clocks! You must sell clocks!"
"No, we don't sell clocks."
Jacob was getting confused. "You don't sell watches, and you don't sell clocks?"
"No, I’m a mohel," replied the man.
"But the clocks and watches in your window?"
"If you were a mohel, tell me, what would you put in your window?"

[Note: The watch and clocks in this post are from Prague. You can read more about them here and here.]

Which calendar?

In order to properly record a date from a document, you might need to know some geographical history.

My paternal immigrant ancestors came from four different towns in the late 19th century.

• The Cruvants came from Cekiske, Lithuania (near Kruvandai)
• The Dudelczaks likely came from either Alexandria or Zhitomir, Volhynia
• The Newmarks came from Warka, Poland (near Warsaw)
• The Blatts came from Losice, Poland

What do all these communities have in common?

All were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, however, by the late 19th century, at the time my ancestors left, they were all part of the Russian Empire.

This is a crucial piece of knowledge for a genealogist. Why?

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an early 16th century adopter of the Gregorian Calendar, however, the Russian Empire didn't switch to the Gregorian Calendar until 1918. So when the territory was under Russian control, the Julian calendar was used for official record keeping, and likely for everyday use.

This means the civil calendar (non-religious calendar) all of my paternal immigrant ancestors were used to, prior to immigration, was likely the Julian Calendar. So, after arriving in America, when my great grandparents wrote down on a document what their date of birth was - were they using a Julian or Gregorian date?

Your guess is as good as mine. It's possible that they made the 12-day adjustment when they immigrated to America. Or perhaps they didn't. I have to record both possible dates of birth.

My maternal ancestors immigrated from Transylvania, Germany, Holland, and England. The first three areas adopted the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, and Great Britain and her colonies adopted it in 1752. I have several maternal ancestors who immigrated to America prior to 1752, and when I see dates for them, if the source doesn't specify, I can't be sure if they're Julian or Gregorian.

Steve Morse's website, popular among genealogists, has a Julian-Gregorian converter, and provides years each nation changed. However, one has to be careful with his table of years. For example, he says Poland went to the Gregorian Calendar in the 16th century, which is accurate. However, once it became Congress Poland in 1815, it was under Russian control. Documents would often have Julian or both Julian and Gregorian dates (source). He says Lithuania changed to Gregorian in 1918, which is also true, but between 1586 and 1800, it was Gregorian as well. I'm unsure if the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is the only example of territory which switched back and forth.

SNGF: The Day I Was Born

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week is to conduct some research on one's own birthdate.

1) What day of the week were you born? Tell us how you found out.
2) What has happened in recorded history on your birth date? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.
3)What famous people have been born on your birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.

1) Using one of my favorite perpetual calendars/calendar converters at Calendarhome, I confirmed I was born on a Tuesday. The date is January 21st on the Gregorian Calendar, and the 2nd of Sh'vat on the Hebrew calendar. 

2 and 3) Using Wikipedia, I looked up January 21 

Five events on my birthdate

1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.

1985 – The inauguration of President Ronald Reagan to a second term, already postponed a day because January 20 fell on a Sunday, becomes the second inauguration in history moved indoors because of freezing temperatures and high winds. The parade is cancelled altogether.

2008 – Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%.

Five famous people born on my birth day

1338 – King Charles V of France (d. 1380)

1824 – Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, American, Confederate army general (d. 1863)

1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)

1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, comedian, and singer (d. 1992)

1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist (shares my year as well.)

Also using Wikipedia I was able to look up Shevat in Jewish History

On the Second of Shevat

76 BCE - Hashmonean King Alexander-Yannai (Jannaeus), a Sadducee and an enemy of the Pharisees, died on this date. Known as a ruthless leader, he persecuted the Pharisees and those loyal to them (approximately 50,000 were killed in the years 82-76 BCE). As a result, the day of his death was declared a holiday in Talmudic times.

1800 -The yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Chassidic Rabbi Meshulam Zusha of Anipoli (1718?-1800). He was a disciple of the 2nd leader of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch- The Great Maggid of Mezeritch.

SNGF: Those who share my birthday

Randy Seaver proposed a fun challenge in his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  Is there a person in your genealogy database that has the same birth date that you do?  If so, tell us about him or her - what do you know, and how is s/he related to you?

2)  For bonus points, how did you determine this?  What feature or process did you use in your software to work this problem out?  I think the Calendar feature probably does it, but perhaps you have a trick to make this work outside of the calendar function.

It's Sunday afternoon, but I was able to answer this question on two different calendars quickly, using iFamily

1) In the Events menu select "On This Day"
2) Enter the Month and Date, and hit return (or tab)

A list of events (births marriages and deaths) on that date appears

3) Check the box that says "Display the results using the Hebrew calendar"
[Note: The program converts Gregorian to Hebrew for the current Gregorian year.]
4) Change the Gregorian Month/Date so that it lists the events for the correct Hebrew date.

For the Gregorian calendar, two individuals in my database share my birthday of January 21.

Bernie Klinsky (1927-1995).  Bernie's grandfather, Jacob Perlik, was the brother of my second great grandmother Annie (Perlik) Feinstein.

Elizabeth Fretz (1781-1849).  Elizabeth was the sister of my 4th great grandmother, Barbara (Fretz) Sliver.  Elizabeth married John Geil.


For the Hebrew calendar, only one individual shares my birthday of the 2nd of Sh'vat.

Frances Lucille Benold (1922-1996).  Frances was the youngest daughter of my grandmother's sister, Minnie (Van Every) Benold.  She married Harley Searcy (1917-1986).

Wolfram|Alpha Widgets - Calendar Converter

Note: the widget below will not be visible via RSS feed, or on Facebook.  Follow this link.

Wolfram|Alpha - the computational engine/database which provides quick answers to mathematical problems and relationships as well as pulls information from its databases of facts - has released a Widget Developer.

This allowed me to create this calendar widget:



The input boxes can be modified from their default values.  I was unable to figure out how to populate a pull-down menu, but possible calendars include:

Gregorian Calendar
Julian Calendar
Jewish Calendar
Islamic Calendar
Chinese Lunar Calendar

If you wished to convert from January 1, 2010 - Julian to Gregorian, in the first input box you would enter:

January 1, 2010 Julian Calendar

and in the second input box you would enter

Gregorian Calendar

Otherwise, it assumes "January 1, 2010" is Gregorian.
The other calendars have different names for the months, so it knows what you mean.

If you follow the link to the widget above, you can access the code to embed it on any page you want.  Or follow instructions on how to customize the widget, or build an entirely new one.

Follow Friday: Calendar Converter

There isn't only one place online to go for this, however, Calendarhome is my calendar converter of choice. Genealogists are most likely to come across the need for one if they are converting between the Gregorian and Julian calendars, or between the Gregorian and a specialized calendar, such as the Hebrew, Islamic, or Bahá'í

(click on image to enlarge)

I like this converter as it is compact. You enter one date, and all the other dates change with it. It also allows you to enter the time of day, which is important for converting between calendars where the day starts at different times.

For example, the image above shows that April 30, 2010 at 8 pm is equivalent to Iyyar 17 5770 on the Hebrew calendar. However, if I entered 4 pm, it would say Iyyar 16, since the Hebrew calendar advances at sunset.

When Does the New Decade Begin?

You may recall the endless debates about whether the New Century began on January 1, 2000 or January 1, 2001. (I tried to argue with friends that it wouldn't occur until the year 5800, which wouldn't occur until 2040, but they didn't listen to me.)

The whole question revolved around whether or not there was a "Year Zero." And obviously, with respect to the Christian/Gregorian Calendar, there wasn't. So, the argument went, the "21st Century" began on January 1, 2001.

However, as I liked to point out -- a new century begins every second. Some centuries are just more popular than others. The same applies for decades, and years.

"The 1900s" began on Jan 1, 1900, and ended Dec 31, 1999. It seems logical to me to define "The 1900s" as any four-digit year beginning with the digits '19'. "The 2000s" would be defined similarly.

What about Decades?

No one referred to the past decade as "The 201st Decade." If we referred to decades as such, the 202nd Decade would begin on January 1, 2011. But we don't. The 2010s begin on January 1, 2010. It doesn't make any sense (to me) to look at it in any other way.

Wikipedia may be helpful if you are confused.

May I ask you for a date?

Looking over the notes a cousin had made in her research on a 19th century date of death, I saw a Hebrew date (Adar 18) and civil date (Feb 18). It is very unusual that the calendars are in sync like that.

So I went to a calendar converter and discovered that Adar 18 that year was March 1. February 18 was Adar 6. Either way, one of the two dates recorded was off by 12 days.

My cousin doesn't usually make mistakes like this, and she was quoting the Lithuanian Archives as her source. I looked at the archival database on JewishGen, and the records matched. So maybe someone else made the mistake in the transcription, and my cousin hadn't checked the dates like I had.

Further research indicated I was the one in error -- as I was using the wrong calendar converter.

The Gregorian Calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, was decreed in 1582 by the Catholic Church, and since then has become so widely used by Catholic and non-Catholic countries alike, many people probably think it is universal. Or at least, while one might be aware of other calendars like the Hebrew, Islamic, or Mayan calendars -- if one sees a date that looks Gregorian, we assume it is Gregorian. This can be a mistake.

The civil calendar in use in Lithuania has changed over time. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an early adopter of the Gregorian Calendar in 1586. However, in 1800, when Lithuania was annexed by Russia, there was a return to the Julian calendar. The Russian revolution of 1917 reinstated the Gregorian Calendar. [Source (linked above): Wikipedia entry on Lithuanian Calendar]

A side effect of this history is that dates on Lithuanian documents, such as vital records, between 1800 and 1917 are likely on the Julian calendar.

Once you know what calendar you're dealing with, converting from Julian to Gregorian is easy. Depending upon what century the date occurs in, you add a specific number of days.

16th and 17th centuries - 10 days
18th century - 11 days
19th century - 12 days
20th and 21st century - 13 days

For those who like mathematical formulas:
For the Nth century, add [[3*N/4]] - 2 days (where [[ X ]] truncates the integer.)

The question I don't have the answer to is how to record it in my database. I lean towards using the Gregorian date, since other dates in the database are Gregorian; Indicating in the notes that the Julian date is what appeared on the document. I am already converting Hebrew dates I find on tombstones to the Gregorian date for my records, and this is really no different.