Cemetery Math - Date of Birth Calculator

Aged 51 Yrs, 2 Mos, & 26 Days

Who in the world came up with placing only a date of death on a headstone followed by "Aged X Years, Y Months, Z Days"? (See photo example.)  If "normal" math scares you, this is truly a nightmare when it comes to trying to figure out a date of birth by subtracting months, days, and years!  If they could figure out that information, they must have known the date of birth to start with.  It would seem logical to use the date of birth and death as we're accustomed to seeing today, especially on older stones when literacy rates and mathematical skills were likely to be less than proficient.  Even today, who is carrying around scratchpads to work on deciphering the dates?  This is one fad I'm glad that's over!

Well, I have found a wonderful way to help easily solve this mathematical problem.  ProGenealogist.com has a great tool that is easy to use for this very purpose, appropriately named the Birth Date Calculator.  One of the best features about it is it's FREE!

Approximating the date of birth is possible but I am always leery of possible errors that can creep in.  For example, some stones were not erected for months or maybe even until years after death.  Memory doesn't always prove to be accurate when the time comes to actually place the stone.  I hope everyone finds this tool useful in their research!