This year Christmas will be observed all over the world on the same day. This has not been the case heretofore. Christmas, December 25, has not been the same day in all Christian lands.
In parts of the Christian world where the Greek or Eastern church held away the people, until this year, reckoned their time according to what is known as the Old Style, or Julian Calendar, which differs from the reckoning now universal in the West, the New Style, or Gregorian Calendar, by 13 days. Hitherto while western people kept it 13 days later, about the same time as our Epiphany, January 6, according to our count of time. During the past year, however, the Gregorian Calendar has been adopted in the East, the 13 days have been dropped, and now December 25 falls on the same day the world over. So, this year, all Christians are supposed to celebrate Christmas on the same day. "Supposed," we say, for it is quite likely that some Eastern communities, in spite of the change that has been adopted formally by the authorities of church and state, may still cling to the old reckoning.
The change cannot be expected to be made by all people immediately. Here in the West, in England and America, when the change was made from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian, many good folks refused for a time to give up the old. The double dating of old documents and of inscriptions on tombstones in England and America is evidence of this hesitation to accept the New Style. At Douglassville is the oldest tombstone in Berks county. On it one may read:
Here Lyeth Ye Body of Andrew Robeson Who Died Feb. – Ye 19th, 171920 Aged 66 Years.
171920 was no error. The figures are just that way on the oldest inscribed gravestone in Berks County, and the figures 171920 are full of significance to one who knows how to read them. They tell a story of the olden time that is worth recounting.
The story is somewhat like this: Old Andrew Robeson, Berks County pioneer, lived over 200 years ago. He died nearly 204 years ago. In his time many folks regarded the year as beginning in March. For them March 25 was New Year Day. Some of their neighbors looked at matters otherwise. They considered the year as beginning with January and for them January 1, was New Year Day.
171920 is what is known as "double dating." It is an example of a device intended to indicate, exactly and without ambiguity the exact year of any occurrence. In old graveyards in New England (the writer has seen examples in Salem, Boston and Concord) a different method of double dating may be found on gravestones of individuals who died 200 or more years ago, between January 1 and March 25. Then a method, which may be called the "fractional method," was used. Instead of 171920" one would likely find a New England burying ground 17 19-20. On the wall of the entrance cloister of the New Old South Church, Boston, across the street from the public library, are three gravestones bearing such fractional double dating and mounted on a tablet.
171920 indicates that in Berks County two hundred years ago there were still many who held that the year began on the 25th of March and some who regard it better to consider the year as beginning with January 1.
Whether Andrew Robenson preferred to begin the year on March 25 or on January 1, Old Style or New Style, no one can tell, but that he knew, or his friends who wrote the inscription for the stonecutter knew, that there was a divergence of opinion as to the date of New year Day, that 171920 is ample evidence.
How to Read It 171920 may be read thus: "Andrew Robenson, who died February 19, 1719 (if you believe that the year begins March 25) or "February 19, 1720 (if you are an adherent of the New Style, if you use the dating of the Gregorian Calendar.)"
It is to be noted that the double dating was used only for dates between January 1 and March 25. After a while the confusion ceased, the Gregorian Calendar was adopted by law, and used generally be every body. So double dating passed out of use.
But (and this is evidence of how old an abandoned notions and customs affect present-day thinking) we are wondering whether readers in enumerating the seasons of the year do not, most of them still say: "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter". Why don't you say "Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn" 171920 on Andrew Robeson’s gravestone gives a clue to the answer. – Rev. Dr. W. W. Deatrick of Kutztown, in Public Service.
In 2003 the Berks County Historical Society addressed the tombstone of Andrew Robeson and it's unusual dating.
Berks County Historidal Society
Subject: Historical Society of Berks County PA
Date: Jan - 2003
News-Bits of Reading-Berks historical interest...
3- News-Bits recipients’ interesting observations about Andrew Robeson’s unusual gravestone at St. Gabriel’s at Douglassville
3- About a dozen readers e-mailed to remark on various aspects of the grave site of Andrew Robeson, shown on a recent News-Bits release. Other than the fact that his headstone is the oldest in Berks and that it’s unique in regard to hardness and color, several commented on the double-dating. Just above ground level one can see the inscription indicating that Andrew died Feb. 19, 1719-20. That's 1719 by the Julian calendar; 1720 by the Gregorian calendar.
Gary Albright and Laurel Miller both e-mailed with comments too valuable not to share. Those of you with any interest in old cemeteries and gravestones, read on and learn--just as I did. I thank both for taking the time to share their thoughts.
Gary Albright began.....
I saw your interesting note on the tombstone of Andrew Robeson. I have never before seen a tombstone that gave the year in both the Julian and Gregorian dates. It seems a bit odd to me that this tombstone, dated 1719/20, should do so since the Gregorian calendar was not adopted by the English-speaking world, including the American colonies, until 1752.
Did the congregation at St. Gabriel's, which was founded by Swedes, use the dual dates? (I don't know when Sweden adopted the Gregorian calendar, but it seems likely they would have done so at the same time as most of the rest of Europe, rather than waiting two centuries like the English.) Or is it possible that the stone was re-carved at some time after 1752? [ We resolved that it was never re-carved. ]
Laurel Miller, authoress of the new LEINBACH family history, which now is in stock at the Historical Society, wrote the following:
Just wanted to put in my two cents about the double dating. I think the reason that you don't find it on tombstones is that there just aren't very many tombstones left (if any) in Berks Co. that pre-date 1752. Moreover, in other parts of the country (like New England), where older stones do exist, they wouldn't have had to worry so much about the preponderance of German, so they probably adhered strictly to the English way.
I have seen the double dating used in church records in PA, and perhaps even in Germany, as well as in court records. From my readings on the subject, I don't think it was that uncommon to use the double dating in the business world on both continents during that period.
Even English writers talk about the legal and the civil year. It had to be confusing for commerce between England and the continent when, for 2-1/2 months they were in different years. Sometimes they used the notation O.S. or N.S. to differentiate, sometimes the double dates.
George, you might want to look at the section on the calendar in my introduction to the book--I'm pretty sure I cited some sources, either there or in the Historical Sources page at the end of the narrative chapters. I'm sure, as well, that the stone was never re-carved.
Gary concluded:
Thanks for your comments on the double-dating on the tombstone, and for Laurel Miller's, which you passed along to me. I don't think that the fact that St. Gabriel's was originally a Swedish congregation is the answer. According to The German Research Companion by Shirley J. Riemer, Sweden did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1 March 1753, more than five months after the British.
Apparently many predominantly Protestant countries and areas did not adopt the new dates until the 18th century. And according to Philip Pendleton's book on the Oley Valley, which also pictures the tombstone, Andrew Robeson was a Scot, though he married a Swede and lived among the Swedes in Berks.
I think the answer is probably that dual-dating was in use prior to the official adoption of the Gregorian calendar, especially in areas like Pennsylvania where the population was a mix of various ethnic and religious groups. And the reason I've never seen a stone with the dual dates is undoubtedly the fact that there are so few tombstones left that predate 1753. And even among those early stones that do survive, there would only be one year for the majority of them, since the dual dates affected only those who died from January to March.
Note According to Mandy: Death occurred in February of the year in question. At this time both the Gregorian calendar (beginning in January) and Julian calendar (beginning with March) were in existence and being used simultaneously. Anything that occurred in the months Jan, Feb, and up to the 15th of March was or could have been double dated because of the overlap in the three months January, February, and March. It was in 1752 when everyone had enough of the dual dating and acceptance of one calendar began, the Gegorian calendar that began in January, the dual system was in place up to then. Having dual dates on anything in Jan, Feb, March, up to 1752 would not have been unusual.
Submitted by Betty.
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