Retour ? la page d'accueil

Back to Home page

JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY, January 1999, Vol. 24, N? 1

Kermode, Jenny.

Sentiment and survival: Family and friends in late medieval English towns.

Most studies of medieval English urban society analyze the demographic characteristics of households or reconstruct the life of a single family. This study focuses instead on perceptions of family and household among merchants, using the testamentary evidence of three sizable northern towns. What emerges is a surprising variety of family forms, the consequence of second and third marriages; extensive kin recognition; and an acceptance of wider responsibilities for dependents in and beyond the household. Intermarriage, acting as guardians and executors for fellow merchants, and the creation of networks of affines and in-laws signal early stages of class formation. Comparisons are made with studies of medieval and early Tudor London.

(ENGLAND, HISTORY, URBAN COMMUNITIES, FAMILY FORMS, REMARRIAGE, KINSHIP, COMPOSITE HOUSEHOLD).

English ? pp. 5-18.

J. Kermode, Department of History, University of Liverpool, U.K.

***

Rogers, Nicholas.

Money, marriage, mobility: The big bourgeoisie of Hanoverian London.

This article explores the testamentary practice and family strategies of the big bourgeoisie of mid-eighteenth-century London. It does so in the context of two debates: the accessibility of landed status to new wealth and the rise of affective individualism. The author argues that the rich businessmen of the metropolis were not always interested in investing their fortunes in landed estates, but those who were and had the wealth and demographic fortune to do so were not unsuccessful. This article also suggests that businessmen were less interested in male primogeniture and patrilineal descent than the landed aristocracy and more willing to accommodate the interests of wives and daughters in the quest for social ambition and financial security.

(ENGLAND, CAPITAL CITY, HISTORY, MIDDLE CLASS, SOCIAL NORMS).

English ? pp. 19-34.

N. Rogers, Department of History, York University, Toronto, Canada.

***

Klassen, Sherri.

Old and cared for: Place of residence for elderly women in 18th-century Toulouse.

Although they lacked the ideological and economic advantages of patriarchal authority, women in 18th-century France were no less likely than men to receive support in their old age from friends and family. Elderly women rarely lived on their own, and when they could not rely on their children for support, they found care in more distant kin and friends. This support was not derived from economic coercion but from a vague sense of moral duty. Informal networks of care sufficed for both the rich and the poor except in cases of extreme illness.

(FRANCE, HISTORY, CITIES, AGED, WOMEN, LIVING CONDITIONS, KINSHIP).

English ? pp. 35-52.

S. Klassen, Trent University, Peterborough, Ont. K9J 7B8, Canada.

***

Lundh, Christer.

Servant migration in Sweden in the early 19th century.

This article deals with the influence of the servant institution on the rural migration pattern in southern Sweden in the early 19th century, especially with the different temporal, geographical, and social aspects of servant mobility. The one-year contract employment periods gave rise to extensive servant migration on special moving times. It was customary for servants to change employers after some years of service, with extensive circular servant migration as a consequence. However, the migration area was largely limited to the local labor market. For most people, the occupation of servant was not the one they followed all their lives but a temporary job during a limited phase of their lives. The servant institution comprised all social groups in the area of investigation, including landholding peasants, but servants were more often recruited from landless households than from farm families. Less than 10% of the servants were young boys and girls.

(SWEDEN, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, INTERNAL MIGRATION, DOMESTIC WORK, EMPLOYEES).

English ? pp. 53-73.

C. Lundh, Department of Economic History, Lund University, Sweden.

***

Finlay, Henry.

Lawmaking in the shadow of the empire: Divorce in colonial Australia.

After the introduction of the English Divorce Act of 1857, the colonial secretary suggested to the Australian colonies that they should follow the English lead with similar legislation. No provision for divorce previously existed in Australia, and this article looks briefly at alternative expedients such as wife sale, bigamy, and unmarried cohabitation. It goes on to sketch the colonial parliamentary debates during the period from 1858 to 1873 leading to the enactment of laws based on the English Divorce Act. Opposition to divorce, based on religious and traditional moral attitudes, gave way in the end to consideration for the plight of deserted wives and children as the chief motivation for reform. In the process, a degree of legislative independence from the mother country also emerges from the debates.

(AUSTRALIA, HISTORY, DIVORCE, LEGISLATION).

English ? pp. 74-109.

H. Finlay, Law School, University of Tasmania, Australia.

***

JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY, April 1999, Vol. 24, N? 2

SCHELLEKENS, Jona.

Determinants of age at first marriage among Jews in Amsterdam, 1625-1724.

This study provides evidence for relatively early marriage among Ashkenazi Jews compared to Sephardi Jews and Christians in 17th-century Western Europe. The results of this study suggest that these differences are not just structural. For example, Ashkenazi parents seem to have been more willing to support married sons during their lifetimes than have Sephardi parents. One form of assistance was coresidence, which was relatively common among wealthier Ashkenazi families. The study is based on data from Amsterdam that probably are the earliest available data on nuptiality for any Jewish community.

(NETHERLANDS, JEWS, CITIES, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, AGE AT MARRIAGE, FIRST MARRIAGE).

English ? pp. 148-164.

J. Schellekens, Department of Population Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

***

GREEN, Elna C.

Infanticide and infant abandonment in the New South: Richmond, Virginia, 1865-1915.

The Civil War and Reconstruction and the South's postbellum industrialization produced economic dislocation on a tremendous scale. One product of that economic upheaval was an increasing problem of infanticides and infant abandonments. This case study of Richmond, Virginia, examines patterns of abandonment and neonaticide as documented in records of the city almhouse and the city coroner. It demonstrates that race shaped the options available to women with problem pregnancies in that African American women had access to fewer social welfare institutions such as maternity homes. As a result, unmarried black women kept their out-of-wedlock babies more often than did whites, but they also committed infanticide at higher rates than did whites. Moreover, racial trends in infanticides and infant abandonment suggest that Richmond's white working class experienced economic advancements at the turn of the 20th century, while the city's black working class continued to live in depression-like conditions throughout the period.

(UNITED STATES, CITIES, HISTORY, INFANTICIDE, INFANT MORTALITY, ABANDONED CHILDREN, RACES).

English ? pp. 187-211.

E. C. Green, Department of History, Florida State University, U.S.A.

***

WEST, Emily.

Surviving separation: Cross-plantation marriages and the slave trade in antebellum South Carolina.

This article assesses the impact of the threat of forced separations on the relationships between slaves in antebellum South Carolina. The majority of slaves had to live under the constant threat, and sometimes the reality, of being separated from their loved ones. It is suggested, however, that through cross-plantation family ties, slaves managed to resist many of the potential threats to family and to marriage viability. Cross-plantation family networks meant that local separations had a lesser impact on slave family and community ties than did long-distance sales. Local sales, gifts, and divisions of estates among heirs did mean, however, that family patterns often were multidimensional, with some family members belonging to the same owner and others belonging to more or less distant neighbors.

(UNITED STATES, STATE, HISTORY, SLAVES, SEPARATION, FAMILY DISINTEGRATION).

English ? pp. 212-231.

E. West, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.

***

JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY, July 1999, Vol. 24, N? 3

KOOS, Cheryl A.

Fascism, fatherhood, and the family in interwar France: The case of Antoine R?dier and the L?gion.

As the leader and founder of the first French "fascist" political organization, the L?gion, Antoine R?dier allows us to begin to trace how gender and the family played a pivotal role in the fundamental ideologies of the major fascist and extreme-right political movements of interwar France. Though short-lived, the L?gion was importantly the first of several groups on the extreme Right to make gender, the family, and fatherhood central to their political philosophies. By doing so, R?dier and other such political leaders helped pave the way for the transition to the Vichy regime in 1940.

(FRANCE, HISTORY, POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES, FAMILY, PARENTHOOD).

English ? pp. 317-329.

C. A. Koos, Department of History, California State University, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

***

BLISS, Katherine.

Paternity tests: Fatherhood on trial in Mexico's revolution of the family.

This article analyzes the politicization of fatherhood in revolutionary Mexico City's process of social reform and institution building between 1910 and 1940. Based on evidence culled from juvenile court case histories, criminal trial transcripts, and letter-writing campaigns, it concludes that reformist and popular ideas about fatherhood were highly contested in this era of social change, legal reform, and state formation. By examining the competing visions of fatherhood that reformers, women, and fathers themselves promoted, it shows that ideas about appropriate parental roles in Mexico were linked to revolutionary conceptualizations of progress, social mobility, and political participation.

(MEXICO, HISTORY, PARENTHOOD, FATHER, IDEOLOGIES, REVOLUTION, MEN?S ROLE).

English ? pp. 330-350.

K. Bliss, Department of Latin American History, University of Massachusetts, U.S.A.

***

JOURNAL OF FAMILY HISTORY, October 1999, Vol. 24, N? 4

SEEMAN, Eric R.

"It is better to marry than to burn": Anglo-American attitudes toward celibacy, 1600-1801.

Ministers in England and New England diverged in their writings about lay sexual renunciation. In England, clerical writers were ambivalent about celibacy. In contrast, New England ministers uniformly opposed lay vows of celibacy. These differing responses resulted from both demographic and cultural factors. English ministers found it difficult to criticize celibacy when nearly 20% of some birth cohorts never married. In New England, on the other hand, only a tiny percentage of colonists never married, allowing ministers to condemn celibacy. Culturally, the patriarchal family figured more prominently in New England ministers' minds as the foundation of a well-ordered society. Celibacy, then, was a direct attack on the institution that secured religion and promoted social stability. This article helps explain both the virulent attacks on Immortalists and Shakers in New England and the relative lack of controversy that greeted England's few religious celibates.

(ENGLAND, UNITED STATES, HISTORY, PERMANENT CELIBACY, RELIGION, SOCIAL NORMS).

English ? pp. 397-419.

E. R. Seeman, Department of History, State University of New York, Buffalo, U.S.A.

***

MCCANTS, Anne E. C.

The not-so-merry widows of Amsterdam, 1740-1782.

This research examines the remarriage propensities of a group of poor to middling Amsterdam widows in the second half of the 18th century. Using family composition, life cycle, and wealth data drawn from a collection of probate inventories originally recorded by the Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage, this study addresses two questions. First, was the substantial differential in the remarriage rates of men and women the result of choice or rather differential opportunities? And second, what were the economic implications of the observed marital outcomes? It will be shown that despite the legal and social freedom typically associated with widowhood, the economic costs of female headship were high.

(NETHERLANDS, CITIES, HISTORICAL DEMOGRAPHY, REMARRIAGE, WIDOWS).

English ? pp. 441-467.

A. E. C. McCants, Department of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A.

***

GORDON, Eleanor; NAIR, Gwyneth.

Middle-class family structure in 19th-century Glasgow.

This article is based on a study of a sample of middle-class households in Glasgow in the second half of the 19th century. The empirical findings are intended to add to the currently sketchy picture of middle-class household structure in the high Victorian period, to enable the authors to draw firmer conclusions about the incidence, composition, and explanation of middle-class coresidence patterns. On the basis of this study, and the small number of other studies of the 19th-century middle-class family, it seems that extended-family households were as common among the middle class as the working class. However, although the incidence of extended households was similar, the composition of these households differed in a class-specific way.

(SCOTLAND, CITIES, HISTORY, MIDDLE CLASS, FAMILY COMPOSITION, EXTENDED FAMILY).

English ? pp. 468-477.

E. Gordon, Department of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow, U.K.; G. Nair, Department of Sociology, University of Paisley, Renfrewshire, PA1 2BE, U.K.

***

KEIL, Thomas J.; ANDREESCU, Viviana.

Fertility policy in Ceausescu's Romania.

This study tests a model for the impact that Ceausescu's pro-natalist policies had on the Romanian fertility rate between 1967 and 1989. Using time-series analysis, the authors' findings show that the Ceausescu regime continually struggled with the Romanian population to increase the national birthrate. As a result of the regime's policies, there was a significant increase in overall fertility between 1967 and 1989, when the Ceausescu regime was overthrown. Reasons are offered as to why Romania pursued such policies and was able to make them work, while other Eastern and Central European regimes proved to be less able to sustain drives to increase national fertility. This article also presents a model of what has happened to the Romanian fertility rate since 1989, showing that there has been a significant decline in fertility in the post-Communist period.

(ROMANIA, HISTORY, PRONATALIST POLICY, GOVERNMENT POLICY, FERTILITY TRENDS).

English ? pp. 478-492.

T. J. Keil, Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences, Arizona State University, U.S.A.; V. Andreescu, University of Louisville, U.S.A.

***

FRIEDLANDER, Dov; OKUN, Barbara S.; SEGAL, Sharon.

The demographic transition then and now: Processes, perspectives, and analyses.

Fifty years have passed since the post-World War II development of demography as an academic field. During this time, one of the central focuses of research has been the study of demographic and fertility transitions. The authors review a selection of research developments and analytic issues that have appeared in the literature. After presenting, in roughly chronological order, the general development of this research work, they raise questions concerning theory and methodology. In doing so, they argue that some research directions have been overemphasized to the neglect of others.

(DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION, DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH, METHODOLOGY, THEORY).

English ? pp. 493-533.

D. Friedlander and B. S. Okun, Department of Population Studies, Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus Campus, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel.

dovfri@vms.huji.ac.il.

***