Daily Ancestor"The third year of the nineteenth centurie"
Will of George Wythe, Richmond, Virginia (Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress)
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Contemplating that event, which one in the second year
of his sixteenth lustrum may suppose to be fast approaching,
at this time, the twentieth day of April in the third year of the
nineteenth centurie since the Christian epoch, when such is my
On what date did George Wythe write this will?
Correct
Not quite
The nineteenth century began in 1801, so its third year is 1803, and the day is the twentieth of April. Wythe dated his will in words, a habit you will meet in many wills and deeds. The 1806 dates on this document belong to codicils he added later. A lustrum is a period of five years.
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