The year 1752 not only lost eleven days in September, but it lost the entire month of January, the entire month of February, and the first 24 days of March, at least in the English-speaking world. That isn't an easy thing to do; it takes real talent to lose days by the entire month. In the old Julian calendar, the new year started on March 25. In the change to the Gregorian calendar, the first day of the new year was fixed at January First.
So what day was George Washington born? Most children are taught it was February 22, but George thought, for the first part of his life, that it was February 11. This was a decision that people who had a birthday in the span from January 1 to March 24 had to make. With the loss, or shift, in the calendar by eleven days, what day was to be used to denote one's birthday? If one was particularly attached to the number, one kept the same number. To keep one's age in sync with the sun, one should adjust the number. One also had a choice in saying which year it was. By the old style, one's birthday year appeared to be one less than by the new style. The logical thing to do was to change the date to what it would be in the new style, the Gregorian calendar.
There is one Germanna event in history that I am convinced has not been adjusted and as a consequence the wrong impression is being created. The Second Colony people left Germany in the month of July of 1717, if the direct import of the Gemmingen pastor's remarks is accepted. He described their departure as being a future event, and he said that he wrote the comments on July 12. To complete a trip in less than six months from Germany to America was very rare. The First Colony took almost a year, though they were subject to unusual delays in London. The Second Colony had its own delays in London due to the imprisonment of the ship's captain (Tarbett) in debtors' prison. If they completed the trip in six months, it would have taken some luck. Six months after leaving Germany in July would have been past January 1.
However, if they landed in the period of time from January 1 to March 24, they would have said the year was 1717 because the English calendar was used for official purposes. Now, today, we are in a quandary as to what year to say. By the rules that George Washington used, the year should be adjusted (after 1752) to 1718. However, this, and probably many similar events, goes unadjusted.
I was discussing this with Klaus Wust, and he said it would be impossible to rectify now. The date 1717 is carved into too many stones to eradicate it. And he is correct. The Second Colony is too strongly identified with 1717 to correct it (assuming one is describing it by its arrival date, not its departure date). But, if one is to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its arrival, it should be in our calendar year 2018.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.