Advice on 30 Feb

[Michael Talibard]

May I ask what would others do about this? I wish to enter into Reunion a marriage that is recorded in a parish register as having taken place on 30th February 1731. Obviously, the priest made a 'slip of the pen'. In what is generally a chronological sequence, this entry comes between a death on 30th January with burial on 1st February, and a birth on 2nd February with baptism on the 3rd. I can put all this in a note, but Reunion requires a wedding date and it obviously won't accept 30 Feb.

[dfilpus]

Reunion will take the date of 30 February as a Custom date. A window will pop up and ask you what date you would like to use as a Sort Date. In this case, given your data, you can enter 30 January as the sort date. Then put the info in the notes and move on.

[Brett Rawlins]

Given its placement among the other dates I think it's reasonable to assume he meant 30th January. Or at least you know that the event occurred around the turn from Jan to Feb. Since the exact date is not clear, I would put something like Jan/Feb 1731.

[Bob Goode]

Originally Posted by Michael Talibard

May I ask what would others do about this? I wish to enter into Reunion a marriage that is recorded in a parish register as having taken place on 30th February 1731. Obviously, the priest made a 'slip of the pen'. In what is generally a chronological sequence, this entry comes between a death on 30th January with burial on 1st February, and a birth on 2nd February with baptism on the 3rd. I can put all this in a note, but Reunion requires a wedding date and it obviously won't accept 30 Feb.

One possible solution - enter the marriage as 30 Jan 1731, if you are fairly sure that this was a 'slip of the pen.' Then after date - place - enter into the memo field the date as written by the priest with an explanation. In addition, in your source citation, the free form section, write an explanation as to why you have the 30 Jan 1731 listed instead of the 30 Feb 1731. Now you have two places for your explanation as to why you believe the marriage to be 30 Jan but you still have the actual 30 Feb date referenced in Reunion.

If you have a copy of the record you can link it in the multimedia tab in the source and in the multimedia icon on the family card.

I would be interested in reading other views on this topic as this is not an uncommon occurrence; i.e. the obvious incorrect information. I do not change the spelling in a document or a person's name and enter it verbatim into Reunion, but this appears to be a different situation.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Originally Posted by Michael Talibard

May I ask what would others do about this? I wish to enter into Reunion a marriage that is recorded in a parish register as having taken place on 30th February 1731.

Well, of course, there was a 30 February 1712 in Sweden, and so you're not the first to confront 30 February in a church register as a wedding date....

[Michael Talibard]

Thanks, everyone. Most interesting. After further thought, I've entered 31st January.