Journal of Family History recent issues

Memory and Power in Qufu: Inscribing the past of Confucius' Descendants

Agnew, C. S. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:27:20 PDT

This article examines the connection between writing on the past and the construction of collective memory and identity by the Kong family of Qufu, the recognized descendants of the Confucius. Kong family dukes raised an ancestor named Renyu to a position of importance in the Kong historical imaginary second only to Confucius himself, transforming a seemingly insignificant name from the family records into a powerful signifier of the centralized economic and political institution represented by the title of the "Duke for Fulfilling the Sage." By tracing the development of the legend of Kong Renyu from the fourteenth century to the present, this article details the centrality of social and political power in the construction of the historical narratives that serve as the basis of collective memory and identity.

Prophecy, Patriarchy, and Violence in the Early Modern Household: The Revelations of Anne Wentworth

Johnston, W. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:27:20 PDT

In 1676 the apostate Baptist prophet Anne Wentworth (1629/30—1693?) published A True Account of Anne Wentworths Being Cruelly, Unjustly, and Unchristianly Dealt With by Some of Those People called Anabaptists, the first in a series of pamphlets that would continue to the end of the decade. Originally a member of a London Baptist church, Wentworth left the congregation and eventually her own home after her husband used physical force to stop her writing and prophesying. Yet Wentworth persisted in her "revelations." These prophecies increasingly focused on her response to those who were trying to stop her efforts, especially within her own household. This article examines Wentworth’s writings as an effort by an early modern woman, using arguments of spiritual agency, to assert ideas about proper gender roles and household responsibilities to denounce her husband and rebut those who criticized and attempted to suppress her.

Tracing Sexual Identities in "Old Age": Gender and Seniority in Advice Literature of the Early-modern and Modern Periods

van Tilburg, M. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:27:20 PDT

Thus far, historians have interpreted representations of elderly women with reference to women’s roles or to women’s positions in society.This article proposes a different approach toward gender: to relate representations of the aged to the sexual identities of both men and women. This article analyzes representations of old age in conduct books of the early-modern period and the nineteenth century. By drawing a comparison, the eighteenth-century change of "identity regime" in European culture is brought to the fore.The article points to the influence of sexual identities on the representations of senior persons in advice literature both in Dutch and translated into Dutch.

Status Homogamy in the Preindustrial Marriage Market: Partner Selection According to Age, Social Origin, and Place of Birth in Nineteenth-century Rural Sweden

Dribe, M., Lundh, C. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:27:20 PDT

This article studies partner selection according to three dimensions: social origin, age, and place of birth. The authors use micro-level data from local population registers in five parishes in southern Sweden from 1815 to 1895.The results confirm that all three aspects were important but that socioeconomic status was the most important characteristic,structuring much of the selection process.The importance of social and age homogamy remained stable over the period, while geographic exogamy became more frequent, which could be interpreted in terms of an increasing openness of rural society.The authors also find some indications of exchange of characteristics in the partner selection process.

How Personal Is the Political? Democratic Revolution and Fertility Decline

Bailey, A. K. — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:27:20 PDT

Existing theory has identified the capacity of political revolutions to effect change in a variety of social institutions, although relationships between revolution and many institutions remain unexplored. Using historical data from twenty-two European and four diaspora countries, the author examines the temporal relationship between timing of revolution and onset of fertility decline. The author hypothesizes that specific kinds of revolutionary events affect fertility by engendering ideological changes in popular understandings of the individual’s relationship to society and ultimately the legitimacy of couples’ authority over their reproductive capacities. Results demonstrate that popular democratic revolutions—but not institutionalized democratic structures—predict the timing of the onset of fertility decline.

Longevity and Causes of Death of Adult Males in the Medici Di Bicci Family

Lippi, D., Matucci Cerinic, M., Albury, W.R., Weisz, G. M. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:47 PDT

The Medici family was prominent in Europe between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Their contributions to political, economic, and artistic life have remained persistent preoccupations for historians. The medical history of this family, however, was relatively neglected prior to the middle of the twentieth century, probably due to the scarcity of relevant information. Retrospective study of the diseases of the Medici has developed more intensely since World War II, when exhumation of the skeletons of family members became possible. The present researchers are engaged in a new assessment of the data now available, starting with an analysis of the longevity and causes of death of adult males in the family. Our findings show clear longevity trends in the two branches of the family. These trends cannot be explained on the basis of current knowledge, but recognition of their existence may help to orient future research.

Disposing of Human Property: American Slave Families and Forced Separation in Comparative Perspective

Pargas, D. A. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:47 PDT

Virtually no slave family in the nineteenth-century American South was completely safeguarded from forced separation, yet the extent of family breakups throughout the slave states remains far from clear. Much of the historical debate has focused on the domestic slave trade and its effect on slave family stability, thereby downplaying other methods of forced separation, which were surely just as disruptive, such as local sales and estate divisions. Moreover, few historians have approached the issue of forced separation from a comparative perspective. This article examines the threat of forced separation for slave families living in two distinct communities of the antebellum South, namely, northern Virginia and southern Louisiana. Concluding that the threat of forced separation was inextricably linked to the nature of regional slave-based agriculture, this study shows that time and place mattered and that the threat of forced separation varied for slave families living in different communities.

Landholding and Fertility in Korea: 1914-1925

Kim, K., Park, H. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:47 PDT

By matching the population registers with the land tax roster, the authors examine how a family's socioeconomic status, represented by the size of landholding, affected fertility behaviors among Korean women in a village of Jeju Island for the period from 1914 to 1925. Landholding is an important indicator of a family's socioeconomic condition, especially for this historical population, the majority of whom were engaged in agricultural work. The authors' discrete-time event history model shows that women in households with larger landholding sizes had a greater risk of birth than their counterparts in households with smaller landholding sizes. However, the relationship is not linear, showing no significant difference between the two highest groups of landholding. The authors interpret the nonlinear relationship in light of economic and agricultural conditions of the island. They highlight potential contributions of their findings for historical studies of population and families in East Asia.

Husbands' and Wives' Education and Divorce in the United States and Japan, 1946-2000

Ono, H. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:47 PDT

How the relationship between status and divorce shifts over historical time among industrialized countries remains largely unknown. A socioeconomic growth hypothesis posits that a more recent marriage cohort (relative to a previous cohort) in an industrialized country exhibits (1) larger divorce-suppressive effects of husbands' and wives' higher level of education and (2) a shift from a pattern in which only husbands' education substantially influences the couples' likelihood of divorce to a pattern in which both spouses' education influences that likelihood. The author tests the need to modify this hypothesis to reflect the intervening influences of cultural-institutional arrangements using the United States and Japan. The author applies event history regressions to the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the Japanese General Social Survey. Results from both countries suggest the needs for modifications and imply that divorce is increasingly tied to socioeconomic inequality in both industrialized countries, but in contrasting ways.

Corresponding Affections: Emotional Exchange Among Siblings in the Nassau Family

Broomhall, S., Van Gent, J. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:22 PDT

This article examines the nature of emotional exchange among the siblings who were the children of William the Silent, the leader of the nascent Dutch Republic. Using evidence from extensive familial correspondence, it asks how the language of emotions could constitute forms of power within the family, by analyzing how actions and expressions of emotion were presented, discussed, and interpreted in epistolary form, to whom, and with what intention and impact. The article studies social, geographic, linguistic, and other distinctions between siblings in their use of affective discourses in correspondence and argues that attention to affective language can help to elucidate the agentive force of emotions in both reflecting and informing notions of power within the family.

Beauty and Simplicity: the Power of Fine Art in Moral Teaching On Education in Seventeenth-Century Holland

Dekker, J. J. H. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:22 PDT

Seventeenth century Dutch genre painting played a major role in the promotion of the pursuit of family and educational virtues. Packing moralistic messages in fine paintings was considered as a very effective moralistic communication policy in a culture in which sending such moralising messages was very popular. The flourishing art market supplied great numbers of moralising paintings and drawings on education and domestic virtues, so contributing to the reconciliation of the existing tensions, or, in the words of Simon Schama, embarrassment between beauty and the promoted virtues of frugality and simplicity. A broad middle class created its own private surrounding in which morality and enjoying the beauty of moralising on the family and parenting went together, as is made clear by the analysis of a series of representative images. Dutch parents, moralists, and painters knew the power of beauty in moralising on the family.

Women, Dowries, and Patrimonial Law in Old Regime Romania (c. 1750--1830)

Jianu, A. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:22 PDT

This study explores the legal aspects of dowry provision in the Romanian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in the period 1750—1830. Drawing on the period's law codes, dowry papers, testaments, and court records, it highlights the legal and emotional difficulties created by the affective/patrimonial nexus within couples, families, and stepfamilies in a society where divorce and up to three remarriages were allowed by both church and state. A growing body of research into the history of the Romanian family is suggesting that the prescriptions governing dowry provision in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and the consequent exclusion of dowered girls from the family inheritance led to increased cohesion within the nuclear family and to the legal empowerment of women, while providing economic security to divorced women, widows, and children.

Voluntary Childlessness in Marriage and Family Textbooks, 1950--2000

Chancey, L., Dumais, S. A. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:22 PDT

We perform a content analysis of twenty marriage and family textbooks published between 1950 and 2000 to study how the voluntarily childless are presented in undergraduate courses. Throughout the time period studied, independence, pursuit of a career, and romance were prominent themes in the representation of voluntary childlessness. Other themes emerged specific to each decade—the 1950s portrayed parenthood as a challenge, while the 1990s concentrated on alleviating negative stereotypes of the voluntarily childless.

Reflections On Societal Change, Adjustments, and Responses

Friedlander, D., Okun, B. S. — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:22 PDT

Building on Davis (1963) and subsequent work, we propose a conceptual framework that provides a guide for the organization of empirical demographic research. Our approach is based on the notion that changes in nuptiality, fertility, and migration are not objectives in and of themselves, but means for reducing welfare gaps—defined as the gaps between actual welfare and that which could be attained with altered demographic and/or other behavior. We clarify theoretical issues concerning three levels of analysis. At the highest level, societal change leads to welfare gaps for families and/or individuals. In turn, behavioral adjustments are made to reduce these gaps. Finally, demographic responses at the community level result when large numbers of families and/or individuals adjust behavior in a particular manner. We consider and exemplify relationships among demographic and other responses in historical, agricultural contexts.

A Status of Her Own: Women and Family Identities in Seventeenth-Century Aveiro, Portugal

Abreu-Ferreira, D. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:44 PST

Through the examination of a set of baptismal records from Aveiro, a coastal town between Lisbon and Porto in northern Portugal, this study explores the ways in which women were identified in relation to their families and community, and in relation to their economic occupations. The findings show that of the approximate 2,600 names of parents and godparents who were noted in the parish registers in the years between 1624 and 1638, the vast majority of them were not provided with a work label. Yet, the inconsistent manner in which women and men were identified suggests that what the church scribe deemed worthy of note did not necessarily reflect the views of the broader community. Although officialdom generally relegated women to their marital or family links, it was possible for a woman to acquire an occupational status of her own.

Inheritance and Intergenerational Wealth Transmission in Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Kastamonu: an Empirical Investigation

Ergene, B. A., Berker, A. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:45 PST

This article investigates the relationship between inheritance and wealth in the context of eighteenth-century Ottoman Kastamonu. Based on the estate inventories of the deceased (sing. tereke) as recorded in Kastamonu court records (sicils), the article introduces a variety of quantitative techniques to measure the impact of Islamic inheritance practices on wealth accumulation across subsequent generations and to understand how it influenced wealth mobility among various socioeconomic groups. The estimations provided in this article suggest that while the inheritance practice in Kastamonu caused wealth fragmentation, the process also contributed to the durability of economic divisions within the provincial Ottoman society.

The Role of Protestant Children's Homes in Nineteenth-Century Ontario: Child Rescue or Family Support?

Neff, C. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:45 PST

The Children's Protection Act of 1893 introduced Ontario's first full-fledged child protection scheme. However, for half a century, children's homes had been helping disadvantaged children, and they played a key role in the evolution of an empathetic child-protection system. During the course of the nineteenth century, the provincial government had increasingly accepted responsibility for disadvantaged children and had developed legislative definitions of a child in need of protection and of neglect that were incorporated into the 1893 Act. The work of the children's homes went hand in hand with these developments, as they not only helped needy children but also helped develop these concepts of neglect and provided models for the home placements promoted by J. J. Kelso and mandated by the Act.

From Nation to Family: Two Careers in the Recasting of Eugenics

Slavishak, E. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:45 PST

By examining the professional lives of two popularizers of eugenic thought from the 1910s to the 1940s, this study illustrates the broader change from "mainline" to "reform" eugenics in the United States. Roswell Hill Johnson's university teaching, laboratory research, and later marriage counseling work contrasted greatly with George Seibel's forays into eugenic theater, moral reform, and mass physical fitness movements. Yet both men shifted from a strict position of mandating other people's behavior in the name of national health and racial integrity to a more therapeutic stance that cast individual decisions in the context of managed family life. This study shows that for some, the transformation of eugenics in the 1930s meant adapting the traditional focus on superiority, inferiority, and reproduction by design to the language of a commercial marketplace.

Divorce and Marital Equality in Orizaba, Mexico, 1915--1940

Swedberg, G. — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:32:45 PST

Mexico's legalization of divorce in 1917 generated tension in working-class communities such as Orizaba between traditional forms of gender relations that afforded men the right to control and discipline their wives and budding legal opportunities that provided women the opportunity to question their husbands' familial power. The state's legal reforms and its emphasis on protecting women and children were not, however, intended to create equality between husbands and wives. Rather, officials believed that new laws would enable women to carry out their familial responsibilities more effectively. Nonetheless, mothers and wives were quick to understand how their ability to challenge their husbands' power overlapped with the state's mission to protect women and their children.