[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Gregorian/Julian Calandar

[Sigrid Pohl Perry]

Marlo,

I'm helping to index the Evangelical Lutheran records from the church in 
Lublin, Poland. This was a region where the Gregorian calendar was 
already observed, but when the Russian authorities arrived, they were 
required to use the Julian calendar again. The pastors showed both 
dates. I have examined information from several thousand birth, marriage 
and death records from between 1868 and 1883, and almost all of them 
give both dates which are usually twelve days apart. This is probably 
the case for almost all records from about 1865-1900 from this region, 
including Volhynia. I have also seen records from EWZ when the German 
authorities resettled Germans from this area in 1940. Sometimes there 
would be a discrepancy on the birth date of a parent when the records of 
siblings were compared; often these dates would be about twelve days 
apart. People didn't have calendars on their walls, nor did they 
celebrate these days the way we do, so remembering which date was the 
"right" one when two were always given must have been a problem!

Generally, when I extract a date I use the later date, the Gregorian 
one, because that's the calendar we use, but I'm always mindful that if 
I find another record for that person, there might be a twelve day 
difference in the date, but it could still be the same person. We really 
appreciate the care and hard work Gary Warner has in merging records 
because this date issue hovers over everything.

Sigrid Pohl Perry

Gary Warner wrote:
> Marlo,
>
> The two calendars operated in parallel.  Your ancestor was born under 
> one calendar, but when they moved to an area where that calendar was not 
> used, then the date changed.   See http://www.calendarhome.com/converter/
>
> Gary Warner
> SGGEE
>
> Marlo50 wrote:
>   
>> I understand they changed colanders and why they did it but I am wondering why was our ancestor's birthday changed?  She was born on 22 September 1882 in Volhynia.  They came to USA in 1888.  She always said
>> she was born 4 October 1882.  Now I know that 11 days were eliminated from the calendar  but why was her birthday changed?  There is still a 22 September.
>> Not to appear dumb but I am confused.  Anyway Russia did not go to the Julian Calendar until 1918.
>> Can anyone give me a sensible explanation?
>> Thank you.
>> Marlo
>>
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