52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 9 Prompt - Leap Year

2024 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 

Week 9 

Prompt – Leap Year 

 In my family tree I have found only 1 individual who is a leapling and two in Bill's family tree. Leaplings are those people born on February 29th. I had never contemplated the idea of a birth date that really and truly only comes around every 4 years. I wondered how Ancestry dealt with their birth ages. It is a feel good news story when a 100 year old is celebrating their 25th birthday. But it could really mess up a genealogy family tree. 

I think that just 3 out of about 4000 individuals in my family trees seems particularly low. I asked myself if the idea of a leap year was relatively new. No not really considering it was Julius Caeser who introduced it about a millennia ago. I guess it was tweaked a little during the Gregorian age. And thus far the calendar years align with the astronomical year, thank goodness. I wouldn't want to be celebrating Christmas in the middle of a summer season in the northern hemisphere. 

The individual who is a leap year baby on my side of the family tree is still living so I cannot give his name. He is my 1st cousin, 1x removed. He was born in Lloydminister, Alberta, Canada in 1968.

 Bill's living individual leapling is a second cousin born 1952 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Bill's other leapling is his 2nd cousin 2x removed who lived and died in the United States. He was: Vitalius William Blotsky 1912-1995 Birth 29 Feb 1912 *Raleigh, Grant, ND, USA Death 12 Mar 1995 *Billings, Yellowstone, MT, USA.

I did wonder if there was negative superstitions associated with the date. I could possible surmise if this was the case that the parents chose a date (Feb 28 or Mar 1) to avoid a birth date of a leapling. I am thinking that this could have happened a 100 or more years ago where babies births were registered after the birth in town at the register or church, sometimes months later. 

If I were so inclined I could do further investigation. That is I could look up all the February 28 or March 1 babies born in a leap year. But even at that it would be hard to prove if the date was switched. These are things that I think of when seemingly normal events such as leap years cross my genealogical path. 

 Wendy