Tricky Way to Figure Birth Dates from Tombstones!

Often tombstones will have a notation such as: 

 “Died 15 June 1872, age 77 years, 10 months, 3 days”

How do you determine the correct birth date?

First, make the sequence read days, months, and years.

15-6-1872

Minus

3-10-77

Since the 10^th month cannot be subtracted from the sixth, borrow 12 months from the year of death, making the year 1871 and the month 18.

(If you have to borrow from the month to make days, borrow 30 days, even though the month might have 31).

The equation now looks like:

15-18-1871

Minus

3-10-77

Begin the calculations on the right hand side.  Therefore, 77 years from 1871 means that the person was born in 1794.  Subtracting 10 months from 18 give you eight months, or August.

So the correct date of birth was 12 August 1794!