Hank just sent this to me, so here it is.

Go here http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php and put in the day and place you would have last set your watch. Put in the modern date and location, like if the Friday of the event is Oct. 1, 2008 and you'll be in Lexington, KY, use that regardless of the time and place being portrayed.

In the result, look for the line that says "Sun transit  11:52 a.m." or whatever. When your modern watch reads that time, your period watch should read 12 noon. So in that example, you'd set your modern watch ahead eight minutes.

That will put your watch on local sun time, as if it was set by somebody's noon mark on a doorsill or windowsill. More accurate clocks and people would use the almanac to adjust it. The table to adjust it is here: http://home.netcom.com/~abraxas2/eot.htm This will only change it no more than about 15 minutes, maybe only a minute or two depending on the time of year. A country farm family probably wouldn't bother; someone who needs very
accurate time probably would.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Linda.

That's pretty neat Linda.  Thanks!

Keep in mind, everything was on standard time and, the local standard was kept by the the nearest town clock.

"Keep in mind, everything was on standard time and, the local standard was kept by the the nearest town clock."

I'm guessing that's a joking way of saying there was no "standard time" except for the town clock, but just to make sure everybody realizes it, "standard time" the way we use it today is a post-war introduction, which is why you need to use the formula above.

Even without daylight savings time, our modern standard time will only match the period time if you're near the geographic middle of your time zone. Otherwise, it can be up to half an hour different.

For those who didn't live close enough to a town to use the town clock, a "noon mark" cut into a sill, where a certain shadow touched when the sun was due south, was the general way of setting one's clock at home.

Quote :

People generally suppose it is twelve o'clock when the sun is due south, or at a properly made noon-mark. [That would be the time as given in the first step in the initial post.] But this is a mistake... In this Almanac, as in most other Almanacs, the time used is clock-time. The time when the sun is on the meridian or at the noon-mark is also given to the nearest second, for the 1st, 9th, 17th, and 25th days of each month, at the right hand of the top of each calendar page. This affords a ready means of obtaining correct time and for setting a clock by using a noon-mark, adding or substracting as the sun is slow or fast. [That would be the time after the second step in my original post.] (The Tribune Almanac, 1857)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net