
Double Dates

        On September 2, 1752, Great Britain and her colonies
changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar by 
adding 11 days to the date.  In the Julian calendar, March was the 
first month and February was the twelfth month.  March 25th was 
New Year's Day.  To help clarify the recording of dates from January 
1st through March 25th, many people began using a double date 
system.

        To help clarify this, we will use George Washington's
birthday as an example.  According to the Julian calendar, 
Washington was born on 11-Feb-1731.  According to the Gregorian 
calendar, it was 22-Feb-1732.  Washington might have recorded his 
birthdate using double dating as 11-Feb-1731/1732.  The first year is 
the Julian year; the second year is the Gregorian year.  Washington 
later adapted to the change by adding 11 days to his birthdate.  This 
was a common solution to the problem.

        Family Scrapbook allows you to record double dates by giving
you an extra four digits in the date fields for the second year.  If you 
do not need to record a double date, simply ignore the last four digits.  
A typical date field will look like this in the program:

        DD-MMM-YYYY/YYYY

        Note:  Not all reports will print out double dates.  Many
reports will shorten the dates to the more familiar format, DD-
MMM-YYYY.

