Choose Wisely

Primary documents are often the key to breaking down many brick walls.   They can also raise more questions then answers for the inquiring mind.  Being sure that one understands the historical context of the document will be the solution for many of these questions.

For example during my own research into the life of Cadwallader Jones, there is a primary document which records the following:

"This indenture made the (blank) in the year of our Lord according to the computation used in England One thousand six hundred Eighty & one and in the year of the Reign of or:Soveraigne Lord Charles the second &c. the three and thirtieth..."
                      [ (Old) Rappahannock County Deed Book 1682-1686 pp. 6-10 ]

Okay I thought, the date was blank but the year was given 1681, and the document was recorded to be in the 33 year of the reign of Charles II.  What?  My previous research into the JONES surname had recorded that Charles II only reigned for 24 years [1661-1685].  How could this be the 33rd year of his reign?  [The following table shows the results of my study on the JONES surname for English Monarchs.  Data was obtained from Pinnock's History of England, first published 1856.]

This puzzled me until it became clear that the writers of this primary document of (Old) Rappahannock County did not recognize the Commonwealth period of English history.  This would place the reign of Charles II beginning at the death of his father in 1649.  Thus 1682 would be the 33rd year of his reign when this document was written.  Pinnock documents the reign of Charles II beginning 1660.

There you go I thought...it is often the one writing the history that gets to pick the dates.  Choose wisely.

BWP(31): What Year is It?

A detailed chronology is the platform on which many brick walls are demolished. Of course, understanding this chronology is often difficult, especially if two modes of computing dates are used in one historic period.

Starting in England from around the 7th century to as late as the 13th century, the year was reckoned from Christmas Day. But, in the 12th century, the Anglican Church began their year on the 25th of March. Over a period of time, the civilian population adopted this calendar. Thus, the civil, legal, and ecclesiastical year were united. However, this produced a change in the "historical" year, which by historians began on January 1st.

To help clarify this dating, a method was developed to add the date of the historical year to that of the legal year. This was necessary when speaking of any day between the 1st of January [starting of the historical year], and the 25th of March [starting of the legal year]. This became written as January 30, 1648-9. The first year being the civil and legal year, the second date being the historical year.

For the genealogist, this becomes confusing when this method is found in deeds, wills, surveys, and other civil or church documents. Just remember that the last figure (year) always indicates the historical year, or the year according to our present time.

The legal year was ordered to commence on the 1st of January by the reformation of the English Calendar by law titled: "Stat. 24 George II. c 23". Thus, dates recorded before 1753 must take these matters into consideration.

BWP(27): A Dating Method

A genealogist is often faced by an individual ancestor with an unknown birth date. One method to help this uncertainty is presented in a post called "Brick Walls". It is found at:

http://thejonesgenealogist.blogspot.com/2010/11/brick-walls.html

hope this method is helpful! It has helped me over the past years get around a few brick walls!