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Archiver > TMG > 2006-07 > 1151784400


From: "Richard A. Pence" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Entering Dates - was TMG-D Digest
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2006 16:06:40 -0400
References: <200671131357.017598@Terry3>


Terry has covered the solution to the stated problem. I would like to
add one thought that seems to me an important one in terms of long-term
accuracy.

Too many years ago when I first got interested in genealogy, I checked
out some books from the library to help me get started, ranging from
"beginner" to "experienced" levels. They all said one thing that has
stuck with me:

The preferred (and accepted) manner of expressing dates is per this
example:

10 Dec 1901
or

10 December 1901

The reason we should all do this is to avoid ambiguity. In the U.S. it
is the common practice to express dates with the shorthand:

12/10/1901.

But, I understand, the practice in Europe is to express the same date
as:

10/12/1901

Even though I am not exposed to much material with the "European
method," I am still always suspicious when I see all numeric date
expressions because you never know who wrote the date and what "date
method" he or she was using. You, like I, probably scan all the dates to
find numbers highter than 12 which then tells you the method used
(because 12 is the highest month).

One of the most common causes of date errors in genealogy is the failure
to recognize what dating method was being used by the scribe. You can
lessen the chance for error by "properly" entering the dates with the
month or the month abbreviation (3 letter - not the 2-letters used by
the post office - who knows if the writer or the reader knows the
difference between AK and AR?).

Another issue is which calendar - Julian or Gregorian - was being used.
Cyndi's List has links to numerous articles on this and other dating
issues. This link has a particularly lucid explanation of dating issues,
including Quaker dates and the calendar change:

http://www.illuminatrix.com/andria/quaker.html

It seems to me that as more and more people take up genealogy there is
more tendancy to overlook the "preferred" date expression method.

Richard P.
Fairfax, Virginia

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Reigel" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2006 1:13 PM
Subject: [TMG] Entering Dates - was TMG-D Digest


> On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 08:09:07 -0700 (PDT), C L Cope wrote:
>> I am a newbie to TMG.
>
> Welcome to TMG, and to TMG-L, Connie! <g>
>
>> I have entered about 400 names and
>> have discovered that I have a mess in the dates. I
>> entered some as January 10, 2000 and others as 1/10/2000.
>> Before I go back and change and reenter of the incorrect
>> dates I need to know how to make this not happen again.
>>
>> I have been to File - Preferences - Date Format and
>> changed it to Mmm/dd/yyyy and clicked apply. It has
>> changed the dates on the Person View Details but not on
>> the reports. On the journal report it prints as 10 Jan
>> 2000 in some places and in others Jan 10 2000. I want
>> the above format but more important I want consistency.
>> What am I doing wrong?
>
> The good news is you don't have any cleanup to do. No matter how you
> enter dates, if TMG can understand what you meant it records the date
> as a numeric code. The date is then displayed in whatever format you
> set in preferences, and appears in reports according to the setting on
> the Dates tab of report Options.
>
> The problem would appear to be that you have some reports set with one
> format, and others with a different one. To fix the issue, go to
> Options in the reports with the wrong format and change the date
> setting.
>
> Now, a couple of exceptions to the above:
>
> - Irregular dates - if you enter something TMG can't interpret, it
> will be recorded as an "irregular date." Examples might include
> "second Sunday of Lent" or "a week after his mother died." Irregular
> dates are always output exactly as entered, and ages cannot be
> computed from them.
>
> - Ambiguous all numeric formats - if you use all numbers, and the day
> is 12 or less, TMG can't be sure which is the day and which is the
> month. In that case, it uses the order of the day and month in your
> display format to determine which is which.
>
> - Non-date fields - dates entered in Memo fields, sources, citations,
> and other non-date fields are not interpreted. They are recorded just
> as you enter them.
>
> Terry Reigel
>

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