Often when tracing your family history, you will see dates written various ways. Let’s take a look at some of the things you may see.
In the United States dates are written mm/dd/yyyy {month/day/year}
In the United Kingdom dates are written dd/mm/yyyy
Check to see where the document originated and the way dates were written
Make sure you include the full year. If you write ’12 we would think you’re talking about 2012 today. However, generations in the future will not know this. Are you talking about 2012? 1912? 1812? 1712? 1612?
Today we’re on the Gregorian Calendar. Before switching to this calendar most countries were on the Julian Calendar. Different countries adopted the Gregorian Calendar at different times and dates were changed when this happened. For example the United Kingdom adopted the calendar in 1752, Turkey adopted in 1917 and Spain adopted in 1582. Do your research, especially if you’re not sure.
So please be careful and check the common usage for that country and area when writing and reading dates and calendars
How do you write dates?
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