The failure to distinguish the New Style Calendar from the Old Style Calendar leads to errors of history. Suppose that someone told you the iron mine land that eventually became Spotswood's was patented in February of 1719. If the report does not have the information of whether this was the Old Style or the New Style calendar, then you would not know in which year by the modern calendar (the New Style) the patent was issued. (1719 was actually Old Style.)
The best thing to do for days between January 1 and March 24, in the period where there were both New and Old Style Calendars, is to say whether the year is determined by the Old Style or the New Style Calendar. A failure to do so may lead to an error. OS and NS are often used as abbreviations. An alternative is to express the date as, for example, 1717/18.
For simplicity, many dates are given by the modern calendar. For example, we say that George Washington was born in 1732 even though the calendar at his birth said 1731. But we must be aware of the two calendars to judge the relative time of two events. It has been observed that the first meeting of the Orange County Court was before the county was formed. This comes about because, by the Old Calendar, the dates from 1 Jan to March 24 in a given year are actually later than the dates from March 25 to December 31.
We have an interesting problem with a group of Germans who said they arrived in 1717. Whose calendar are they using? Probably, in Germany, from where they departed, the calendar was the New Style Calendar. On arriving in Virginia they find that the calendar was the Old Style Calendar. Which calendar do they use? The one from Germany or the one which is used in Virginia?
Let us say that they adopted the ways of Virginia and used the Old Style Calendar. In it, the year 1717 extends, or goes, to March 24. So, if they arrive on February 1, and adopt the English calendar in effect at that time, they would say they arrived in 1717. Today we would be more inclined to say they arrived in 1718. So, if we wanted to celebrate the 300th anniversary of their arrival, we should do so in 2018.
I think it is very probably that the Second Germanna Colony did arrive in 1718 by the modern calendar. The circumstantial evidence of the date of their leaving Germany is that it was in July, July 12, to be more exact. This is the date that the pastor in Gemmingen noted that six families from his parish were going to Pennsylvania. The trip down the Rhine River, the wait for a ship to London, finding a ship in London, then having to wait while the captain of the ship was in debtors' prison, and the long ocean voyage (ten weeks was typical) taken together make it improbable that they would have arrived before December 31.
Klaus Wust said, "The year 1717 is carved in too many pieces of stone to be changed." He did not say 1717 was right or wrong; it simply will not be changed because too many people are thinking it is 1717.
(28 Oct 02)
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.