52 Ancestors Fresh Start

As we start a New Year we often find ourselves looking at making changes and maybe a "fresh start ".

I have not been  blogging here for some time but as this year begins I know it will be a year full of changes and possibly some challenges. 

This year I am planning on doing all of the 52 ancestor posts and hope that you have the time to follow along with them.

I will be discussing the ancestors and other relatives of my son. These may also be your relatives so please comment if you have something more that you can add.

So where do I start today. As it is a New Year and the start of a decade I want to consider how our Ancestors will have looked upon the calendar. 

Before school attendance became compulsory the majority of the population may have had no need to refer to any calendar, they could not read or write, and their working lives were often closely related to the seasons. Even when education was made compulsory in many rural communities children would be absent from school at harvest time as they were expected to help their parents. Edward Rosling was one ancestor who fell foul of this law. I managed to find a piece in The Grantham Journal 11th May 1889 page 6 column 2. Although given the extent of the absenteeism I doubt that all can be attributed to helping his father. He could have been helping to sow crops rather than harvest them in agricultural Lincolnshire.

When England changed from using the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, apart from losing 11 days (the calendar was advanced by 11 days: Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752), the beginning of the year changed from 25 March to 1 January. The year 1751 ended on 31 December and didn't include any dates from 1 January to 24 March. So the year started in the middle of winter rather than when spring arrived.

Our ancestors may not have been aware of such changes unless they were involved with clerical or legal activities requiring the recording of dates. We do, however, need to consider these changes when we look for records, particularly for those who were living during the year of change, if they were recorded in the parish registers at this time.

We can but wonder whether radically changing the calendar provided any real advantage at the time. With our 21st century global communication a common system is essential but would a village farming community notice the change.

Whilst we live by the laws of our country many changes may have little impact on our daily lives.

The introduction of the 1753 Marriage Act was likely to have more impact and most parishes started a new register when it came into force on 25 March 1754.

So if you are looking at records in the 1750s make sure you consider the changes that took place. Changes to the start of the year and the start of recording more information when couples married.