Old Style dates in Quaker Records

Private User

12/12/2010 at 8:45 PM

First a little background - the early Quakers used numbers for their dates - 1st day, 2nd mo, 1732 for example. The Julian calendar year began on March 15, the Gregorian calendar began on January 1. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted consistently among the Protestant nations in any rerasonable fashion.

Britain and it's colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, but each Quaker Monthly meeting shifted in it's own time, however, they did label dates OS (julian) or NS (Gregorian).

I have observed the divergence in Quaker dates of as much as ten months as multiple people continually add two months to every date. I recommend that in the 'ABOUT' field, the original Quaker date from the monthly meeting records be recorded, where possible.

Janet Palo-Jackson, curator, Quaker descendant

PS any other Quaker questions welcomed.
As more records are merged together, the dates in the early Quaker families in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (and probably elsewhere as well) are slip

Erica Howton C

12/12/2010 at 9:50 PM

I've seen those 1st day, 2nd month notations in records, and not realized it was Quaker style. Is there a reason they developed it? Was it to track the meetings?

Private User

12/12/2010 at 10:17 PM

No, it was because those day and month names were heathen, rather than Christian.

For Example:

January - Janus - Roman God
March - Mars
July - Julius Caesar
August - Augustus Caesar

Monday - Moon
Wednesday - Wotan
Thursday - Thor
Friday - Freya

Dates were recorded by the monthly meetings to track weddings, births, deaths, and so forth. This was the job of the Church of England, and the Quakers had to continue it on their own. Especially since they did not have a priest to lead the congregation and document the marriages. No baptisms either. So they had to do it themselves in the Monthly Meeting Records.

Erica Howton C

12/12/2010 at 10:21 PM

And their records survived and are still available in a way other colonial records may not be, correct? So this is something worth mastering.

Why didn't the Puritans object to the "heathen named" months?

Private User

12/13/2010 at 6:23 AM

records are not only still available but they are still active. my children are listed in my monthly meeting, as is my first marriage.

As to the Puritans and their use of the months, That is a topic I haven't researched.

Old Style dates in Quaker Records

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