Fun facts About the Old Farmer’s Almanac

By MARY CARTER
Local History
Within the year George Washington was re-elected president, a bookbinder, teacher, and hobby astronomer named Robert B. Thomas published the first edition of what was then called “Farmer’s Almanac.”

Born in 1766, Thomas was raised on a Massachusetts farm. According to Thomas’ memoirs, his father “possessed a larger library than usually found in a country town.” One of Thomas’ inspirational books was “Ferguson’s Astronomy.”

James Ferguson (1710-1776) grew up in a northeast Scotland mill town. His formal education consisted of three months in a public school when he was seven. Intrigued by astronomy and mechanics, the impressively self-taught Ferguson became a renowned lecturer on scientific subjects.

Packed with weather predictions, tide tables, household hints and games, almanacs were popular. The first surviving American almanac appears to have been produced by Harvard College in 1646.

Robert Thomas traveled to Brattleboro, Vermont hoping to speak with a certain Dr. Stearns. Stearns calculated predictions for the “New England Almanack.” This periodical was created by Isaiah Thomas (no relation to Robert B.), famously known as the editor of colonial Boston’s “Massachusetts Spy.” The Spy touted the patriot cause to such a degree that Isaiah Thomas was wanted for arrest along with the likes of John Hancock and Samuel Adams.

Robert Thomas’ attempts to learn scientific secrets from Stearns and then subsequently Isaiah Thomas failed. A mathematics teacher in Boston named Osgood Carlton agreed to teach Thomas how to cast predictions and, in 1792, Thomas’ almanac was born. By its second edition, it tripled in sales. In 1832, it became “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” in praise of its out surviving so many competitors.

Twenty-six years later, Abraham Lincoln was defending a client on trial for murder. An accuser swore he saw the defendant at the scene of the crime by the light of a high-set moon. Lincoln used an almanac to prove that the moon on the night in question laid low and was about to set. This could have been the “Old Farmer’s Almanac,” although “Maine’s Farmer’s Almanac” later claimed the honor. The one used as evidence was not saved.

But can annual predictions made far in advance for publication deadlines be anywhere near accurate? Even Punxsutawney Phil delivers an unimpressive score with a yes/no window of six weeks. As Robert Thomas himself said: “We must strive always to be useful with a pleasant degree of humor.”

With humor in mind, it’s fun to note that the hole bored on the upper left-hand corner of the almanac is not a defect. Folks used to hang their almanacs in convenient places, such as kitchens, barns, and even double-duty outhouses.

Today’s almanac uses a method of comparing solar patterns, historical events and current solar activity. According to the almanac’s website, their long held 80% accuracy record dropped closer to 70% this past year. Still, the almanac doesn’t merely anticipate the whims of Mother Nature. It offers recipes, crafting guides, anecdotes, poetry, history, earth facts, planting tips, spot quizzes and folklore, making the almanac an overall fun read.

The “Old Farmer’s Almanac” is North America’s oldest continuously published periodical. Currently produced by employee-owned Yankee Publishing in Dublin, New Hampshire, it’s said that Thomas’ original calculating formula is tucked securely there within the confines of an old tin box.