From The Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire (in three parts), compiled from the best authorities, by Eliphalet Merrill and the Late Phinehas Merrill, Esq., Printed by C. Norris & Co. , Exeter, NH, ©1817, pg 56 Part I - General View- History 1662 - On the 26th of January of this year, there were two shocks of an earthquake, and on the 28th a third. NOTE: After discovering a discrepancy on the date of this quake I e-mailed Jim Dewey at USGS.gov who put me in touch with John Ebel at Boston College and he explained the descrepancy. John writes: "The 1662 earthquake date is easy to explain. At that time the English colonies were using the Julian calendar (Old Style or O.S. dates), while Quebec and the Catholic parts of Europe were using the Gregorian calendar (New Style or N.S. dates). We now all use the Gregorian calendar. The new year in the Julian calendar starts in March (in the Gregorian calendar it starts obviously on January 1), and in the 1600s there was a 10 day difference between the two calendars. Thus, Feb. 5, 1663 (N.S.) is the same as January 26, 1662 (O.S.). For the months of January and February, some people in the English colonies wrote the year as 1662/1663 to be sure the year was not confused by those on the Gregorian calendar. Today, all seismologists list dates using the Gregorian calendar, even when the original sources might list the Julian date. Thus, your events on January 26 and 28, 1662 (clearly O.S. dates) took place on February 5 and 7, 1663 (N.S.)." Submitted by T.C. Parziale 5/30/00 **************************************************************************** * * * * Notice: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.