What Day Is It?

  

Chronological Note:  The Gregorian calendar that we use today was not adopted in the American Colonies until 1752.  Before 1752, the new year started in the month of March and the months of January and February were the 11^th and 12^th months of the preceding year!  Thus 1 February 1700 (Old Style) would be written 1 February 1701 (New Style) or 1 February 1700/01 (Both Old and New Styles).  Therefore the accuracy of some dates is uncertain due to not knowing which calendar was used to determine the year.

This is one of the obstacles I encounter in doing genealogy research, compounded by the fact that most people could not read nor write, and therefore relied on their memories of important dates as they could not read nor write those dates down.  Could you remember all the dates of events in your life if you hadn't written them down or had a calendar to refer back to?  Since they could not read nor write is why when signing official documents they used an "X" as they didn't know how to write out their "John Henry".  Is it any wonder as to why we have any documentation of anything in history?