John wrote here........ > No, I did not observe any Gaelic calendars. I only continue to observe > differences in the birth dates recorded on the tombstones of those ancestors > of mine who came from Barrahormaid, North Knapdale, Argyllshire and the > Parish records and SRO records of births. For parish records of birth, it was almost always the Baptism that was dated but NOT the birth. And as many bairns walked to church for christening, the discrepancies in dates, may be years. Tombstones have errors, masons make mistakes, dates may be (badly) committed to memory in the days when the language was mostly phonetic and the ability to write instructions, was a gift possessed by only a few literate folk. The 1853 Parliamentary Gazetteer reported "North Knapdale........there are two small villages each containing about 180 inhabitants......". Seems possible, that literacy there may have been a "challenge". > I just question why there continues to be a difference. Let's have a couple of specific examples, these would interest a number of Listers! Cheers........... ALISTAIR M. CAMERON