Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

bp1735 asked in Arts & HumanitiesGenealogy · 1 decade ago

"On Sunday, the eighth instant, there passed to his reward the soul......."?

This phrase came from the beginning of an obituary from the early 20th century, and I've seen many similar obituaries that mention the first instant, the fifth instant, and so on. What are they talking about when they say "instant"? Is it the date of death? I'm not sure where this question belongs, but I thought that genealogists may have some idea.

2 Answers

Relevance
  • Favorite Answer

    Yes, when used as above, "instant" means "date" (not day, such as Sunday, but date, such as 1 - 31)

    Instant was still being used when I was young...

    Source(s): life; genealogical research
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It means "of this month", so if he passed on to his reward on the 8th instanst, and the obit appeared in the paper on the 12th of August, 1888, he died 8/8/88.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.