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Naturally, this change of
events upset the general population, but it did have the effect of reconciling
calendar time with actual time.
This brought about the Old Style (OS) and New Style (NS) methods of writing
dates. By Old Style (before 1752) a man was born, like George Washington, on 11
February. But by the New Style (after 1752), if he changed the date to conform
to his actual age, he would have to add 11 days to his actual birthday, making
his date of birth 22 February, the date he would have been born had the new
calendar been in effect in 1732 (which is wasn't). This caused confusion enough,
but that was not all.
B. New Year's Day
Another change was made in 1752, and that was the date of the beginning of
the New Year. In America two dates were used. March 25th was the regular
beginning of the New Year, while 1 January was the beginning of the legal year.
This really only affected people like George Washington, who were born between 1
January and 24 March. This problem created double dates, which look like this:
11 Feb 1731/32. George Washington's birthday meant that the year was still 1731
if the new year was reckoned as not beginning until 25 March, but that the year
was already 1732 if it began on 1 January. Obviously, the date 11 Feb 1731 (OS)
is identical to 22 Feb 1732 (NS).
Occasionally a beginning genealogist will be upset over the fact that one of
his ancestors was married in March 1725 and had a child in February 1725. As you
can see now, that could be entirely legal and proper, had the new year begun on
25 March, for the parents would have married in the last part of 1724 and the
child would have been born 11 months later, in February, when the year was still
1725. After 1752, the dates recorded are the actual dates. However, you should
be aware of the confusion that did exist for a while in the 1700's.
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