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Daniel Boone was born October 22, 1734 in a log cabin in Berks County, near present-day Reading, Pennsylvania.
Daniel Boone was born November, 2, 1734 in a log cabin in Berks County, near present-day Reading, Pennsylvania.
Why does Daniel Boone have two Birthdays? Sometimes in History, dates are not known for sure. That is not the case here. Daniel Boone was born on October 22, 1734 and on November 2, of the same year. The answer is simple. The dates represent two different calendars.
The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC. The Julian calendar remained in use into the 20th century in some countries as a national calendar, but it has generally been replaced by the modern Gregorian calendar.
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582. Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 by which time it was necessary to correct by 11 days. Wednesday, 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752 to account for 29 February 1700 (Julian). The notation "Old Style" (OS) is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian calendar, as opposed to "New Style" (NS), which either represents the Julian date with the start of the year as 1 January or a full mapping onto the Gregorian calendar.
You can see by this change in calendar that when Daniel Boone was 18 years old the calendars changed. While Boone continued to celebrate his Birthday each year on October 22, old style (OS), the world now claims that he was born on November 2, 1734, new style (NS). So Daniel Boone really does have two Birthdays.
At Fort Boonesborough State Park we would not want to dispute the Birthday that Daniel Boone celebrated his whole life and therefore we will be celebrating his Birthday in October, 2009. We hope you will join us this year as we have a season long celebration of Daniel Boone’s 275 Birthday Anniversary. This celebration will be from April 1 through October 31, 2009 at Fort Boonesborough State Park. There will be special events all year and a special Birthday weekend on October 17-18, 2009.
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