I
must confess that my 5th great-grandfather, Benjamin Albertson has
been giving me problems about the correct date of his birth. The
change in the calendar in 1752 and the Quaker use of numbers rather
than names for months has given me a challenge.
In
the Quaker Perquimans Monthly Meeting records I found the following
birth record for he and his siblings, the children of Aaron and Ann
(Gilbert) Albertson.
He
was the youngest child and this seems to say he was born on the 18th
of the 5th month in 1739. Since this was before the calendar change,
that would make the month July.
Then
after he died the records at the Quaker Suttons Creek Monthly Meeting
included this section about Benjamin and his wife's birth and death.
Here
it states he was born the 29th of the 7th month 1739 old stile. Since
this was written after the calendar change in 1752 it seems to
indicate he was born on the 29th of the 7th month which would have
been September under the "old style."
So
he was born either on the 18th or 29th and either in the 5th month
(July) or 7th month (September). It more probable that the Perquimans
Monthly Meeting records were written first, since Suttons Creek
Monthly Meeting was not divided from Perquimans until
1794. So because of that maybe I should choose July and believe the
Suttons Creek clerk got confused. But then which day is correct, 18th
or 29th. Notice there are 11 days difference. Look at a
representation of the calendar for September in 1752 when the new
calendar took effect.
In
order to get the calendar back in sync 11 days were omitted. Maybe
the clerk tried to account for that or maybe it was Benjamin. Maybe
he was following the lead of the president. The story has been
reported that George Washington was born 11 Feb 1731, but after the
calendar change his birthday was celebrated on the 22nd of February.
So
if I choose the Perquimans record for the month (July) and use the
later day (29th) that would make today when I celebrate his birthday.
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