Dates

Recognized calendars

Heredis treats dates entered in 4 different calendars: Gregorian, Julian, Hebrew and French Republican. The dates must be between the year 4712 BC to the year 3454 AD of the Gregorian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar used today in most countries of the world was applied at widely varying dates in dif­ferent countries (from the fourteenth to the twentieth century).

The Julian calendar was abandoned in favor of the Gregorian calen­dar. Certain countries retained it until the twentieth century.

The Hebrew calendar is used in documents of the families of Jewish faith, regardless of the country where they live.

The French Republican calendar was used only in France and covers the period from September 22, 1792 to January 1, 1806.

Entry of dates

Heredis handles dates expressed in numbers (using the separators . or /, or spaces), or the dates expressed with the month in letters (entered in full or abbreviated).

A date may be entered in the Gregorian, Julian, Hebrew or Republican calendars.

To enter an date in the Hebrew calendar, precede it with the letter H (1987).

To enter a date expressed in Julian precede it with the letter J (J June 23, 1654).

To enter a date expressed in the French Republican calendar, enter the year in numbers, Roman or Arabic, preceded or not by the word «An». Enter comp for additional days (for example, «6 comp An III» for the sixth complementary day of the year III of the Republic).

Recognized formats

For Heredis to decode the date according to your desired entry order, choose Windows: Tools > Preferences > Heredis Preferences > Format; Mac: Heredis > Preferences > Format and select the order of ele­ments of the date you want Day/Month/Year or Month/Day/Year).

The date of «2 February, 1794» may be entered in the following way, if you have determined the order day/month/year.

Gregorian calendar
• 2 February 1794
• 2 Feb 1794
• 02/02/1794
• 02.02.1794

Julian calendar
• 22 January 1794
• J 22 Jan 1794
• J 22/1/1794
• J 22.01.1794

Hebrew calendar
• 2 AdarI 5554

French Republican calendar
• 14 Pluviôse an 2
• 14 pluv an II
• 14 pluv 2
• 14 pluviôse II

Info • For every printed document and for each exported file, tick the Use Gregorian Dates option. Some other genealogy programs do not deal with the different calendars in their GEDCOM imports; it will thereby be compatible with all programs.

Interval of dates and approximate dates

Heredis manages the chronology of events according to the dates entered, exact or approximate. Use keywords to express intervals of dates or approximate dates.

Before
Type the word before or the symbol < followed by a space or the symbol / with no space and then type the full date or not, in numbers or in words.
• before 23 August, 1845
• < 23/8/1845

After
Type the word after or the symbol > followed by a space, then type the full date or not, in numbers or in words. Or type the symbol / with no space after the date.
• after 6 June, 1774
• after 6/6/1774

About
Type the word about or the word circa or the abbreviation ca or the symbol ~ followed by a space, then type the full date or not, in num­bers or in words.
• about February 1811
• circa 2/1811
• ca 2.1811
• ~2.1811

Between / and
Type the words between and then and or the symbols <> and & and then type the full date or not, in numbers or in words or type the sym­bol // between the two dates with no spaces.
• between 11 October 1914 and April 1917
• between 11/10/1914 and 4/1917
• <> 10 November 1914 & 04 1917

From to
Type the word from followed by a space and then type the full date or not followed by a space and then type the word to after the full date or not.
• from 1845 to 1846
• from 8/1845 to 9/1845
• October to September 1845
• from 23/8/1845 to 31/8/1845

Before Christ
Type the abbreviation B.C. after the date or type a minus sign before the date to indicate periods before Christ.
• 125 B.C.
• -125

Before any date, complete or incomplete, you may add the following keywords:
• Estimated or est to indicate that a date is a mere guess. In this case it is displayed preceded by the estimated or (est). It is taken into account in chronology screening (eg. order of families, order of the children…) but it is excluded from printouts.
• Calculated or cal to indicate that a date has been obtained by cal­culation. For example if you do not know the birth date of a person but you have found the age at death on the death certificate, the software automatically displays a calculated date of birth. The user may also enter a date named calculated, being the result of deduc­tion. The calculated dates are displayed and printed preceded by the words calculated or (c).

Info • The dates entered in a valid format may be followed by any comment that may facilitate your work, provided it is entered in brackets. You can specify 1875 (early summer) or June 1674 (TBC).

Automatic calculation of birth dates

Heredis automatically calculates the date of birth of persons whose age is known at any given event. The age of the father, mentioned in a birth certificate, allows you to create or complete the father indicat­ing the probable year of birth. This will make it easier to find the birth certificate of the father, thus advancing your genealogy.

For the person living the event

1. Create an event and specify the date.
2. Add the witnesses (witness, declarant, etc.), and specify their age in the Age/Record field of the input screen for the link.
Info • Remember to choose the Customized or Comprehensive input mode to display this field by clicking on the cogwheel .

Witnesses to an event

1. Create an event and specify the date.
2. Add the witnesses (witness, declarant, etc.), and specify their age in the Age/Record field of the input screen for the link.
If the date of the start of their life (birth or christening) already exists, your data remains of course unchanged. If the date of the start of their life is unknown, Heredis adds a calculated date of birth.
Info • The dates calculated are shown in italics preceeded by a (c) in the list of events on the Personal Data tab.

See also Calculate or convert a date.