Quaker dates
I have found a Quaker record with the following documentation of children:
Issac born the 19th day of 12th mo. 174 8/9
Ruth born the 24th day of the 6th mo. 1741
Samuel born the 18th day of the 9th mo. 1743
Lydia born the 7th day of the 9th mo. 1745
Sarah born the 3rd day of the 8th mo. 1748
Mary born the 11th day of the 8th mo. 1751
My question is that this seems to be in sequential order of birth, but the first date (for Isaac) appears to read 1748. A closer look makes the 8/9 almost look like a fraction. So, I am wondering if it is 1740 8/9 or perhaps 1739 and 8/9ths?
Any ideas? I have also seen a birth date in Quaker records as 1738/9. Not sure what to believe but I do think he was the first born.
Answers
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Any chance of a link to this document? My first thought is that what you're reading as "8/9" must actually be something else, such as a zero.
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Or perhaps the record was created (possibly copied from an older record) after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.
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If you could please put a link, I can look at it, and perhaps figure it out
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It could well be that the first date represents 12 February 1748/49. Under the old calendar (pre 1753), February would be considered the twelfth month of 1748 - the year running from 25 March 1748 to 24 March 1748 - the latter date being in what we would now think of as 1749, but is often recorded in registers as 1748/49.
The confusion often feeds through to indexed records, where in one you will find the date indexed as (in this example) 12 February 1748 and through a different project it will be indexed as 12 February 1749.
The only dates this would apply to are those from 1 January - 24 March, hence your other examples (apparently referring to events in August, September and October) would never include a dual-dating format.
Incidentally, March was always considered the first month, in spite of its first twenty four days being in the previous year!
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Quakers objected to the use of names for the days of the week and months because these names derive from "heathen" gods and goddesses. As noted in the post above, until the change from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 Twelfth Month was February, so that first date is double dated old style/new style.
Edit to add: See this page from the wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/England_Nonconformist_Church_Records#Quaker_Dates
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The Latin names for the months correspond with the old calendar Sep = 7, Oct = 8, Nov = 9, Dec = 10.
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