What’s in a date?

Posted by Michael on February 26, 2009
Uncategorized
World War II Draft Registration Card

Fortunately they got this date right

“According to The Longmont Ledger, 9/8/1911 page 5 she died at the age of 33 at 105 Main Street-Longmont”.

I just saw that on Findagrave.com. Did she die on September 8th or August 9th? If you’re in the United States, it’s probably September. If you’re in Europe, it might be August. Either way, it’s a dumb way to write the date.

The really annoying bit is that I recovered the obit for that researcher, and my email stated, “8 Sep 1911″. Pfft.

Writing the date should be such a simple task and not open to interpretation. Unfortunately, many family historians manage to muck it up. There are two common issues you want to avoid:

a) Never write the month as a number
b) Never write the year with only two digits

The Good

04 Jul 1776
07 May 1942

The Bad and the Ugly

1/8/2001
8/1/2001
Jan 1, 08

You might as well be writing it as, “Either January or August the 8th or 1st”

http://www.findagrave.com/

Tags: , , ,

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

WP_Big_City