Daily Ancestorult.
Ult. (ultimo) means "of last month": a notice printed March 2 that says "died the 27th ult." means February 27.
Ult. stands for ultimo, Latin shorthand for "in the previous month." It always counts back from the date of the document it appears in, not from today.
A newspaper dated January 5 that reports a wedding "on the 28th ult." is describing December 28 of the year before, so the year can change too. Researchers sometimes misread these notices as the month of publication, which puts the event a month off.
As seen in a recordMarriage notice in a newspaper
Married, on the 28th ult., by the Rev. Mr. Hale, Mr. Jno. Wells to Miss Eliz. Ames.
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Daily Ancestor. "ult.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/ult. Last checked 2026-10-01.