Question of the day.

[grouchy]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

[BigTex]

They needed kids to help work the farm or the family business, and volume was a hedge against attrition from disease or accidental death.

Also there was no HBO, so . . .

[LibraryLady]

They needed kids to help work the farm or the family business, and volume was a hedge against attrition from disease or accidental death.

Also there was no HBO, so . . .

Big Tex nails it on all counts!

[BillB]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

[John In Austin]

No birth control.

[crackertoes]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

My great-grandparents had a gazillion kids and were all famers/ranchers. Both sets of grandparents had 8-9 siblings each except my paternal grandfather - he had just one because his mom died after giving birth to the second child. My step-grandfather had a bunch of siblings. But my grandparents did not have tons of kids themselves. Maternal had 2, paternal had 1, even though they were also farmers/ranchers.

Also consider that divorce was not as common or readily available as it is today so once married, they stayed married and well, you know...

And, older folks were not shipped off to assisting living facilities or other "senior" homes unless there really was no family left to take care of them or required a lot of very special care; they often moved in with kids or an adult child would move back home (with his/her own family) to see after mom and dad - unless there was a spinster who did that. My "greats" lived with family until they died except for the mean well-off one. He was at his home (with second somewhat younger wife - first one died years before), but plenty of kids lived all around.

It's a different world anymore. My parents did not want a large family and didn't want to live with family or have family living with them after we kids left the nest. Dad moved in with us for a while after a stroke, but decided he'd rather be on his own again so he is. I hardly ever see him anymore.

Anyhoo.... here's some interesting reading: http://www.bls.gov/mlr/1990/03/art1full.pdf

[BigTex]

Alternate answer of the day . . .

Because we had Kennedys.

[GRANDPA]

My maternal Grandmother was the youngest of 12. My Mother has dozens of cousins, just from that side of her family. I have 10 total.

[millergrovesue]

Alternate answer of the day . . .

Because we had Kennedys.

Yep, I agree with to work and no birth control.

[grouchy]

I was going to give a 4 word answer, "no tv or radio", so BT pretty well nailed.

Lots of the other answers were also correct.

I hope some of you will pose questions tomorrow. Or now for that matter.

[BigTex]

Hard to imagine living in a time where you went to bed when the sun went down.

[Castle Doctrine]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

No need for stats. Walk though any old cemetery and look at family plots. Families were bigger then for a number of reasons.

[Castle Doctrine]

No birth control.

Yes there was birth control. The problem was with access. Most places just teaching birth control theory was somewhere between a crime and a sin....usually closer to a sin.

[BillB]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

No need for stats. Walk though any old cemetery and look at family plots. Families were bigger then for a number of reasons.

I don't think that would answer the question.
People didn't move round much then and tended to die close to where they were born.
That would put families all in the same cemetery.
You won't see that today, regardless the size of the family.

[Red Oak]

In my Family cemetery are:
3 G G Grandparents
4 G G Grandparents
2 Grandparents
1 Parent

Nothing earlier than GG Grandparents, those are buried in Virginia, Georgia, and west of Waco.

[planosteve]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

I can vouch for that with 20 years experience in genealogy. My 2nd great grandfather sired 19 children via 3 wives and he was the oldest of 18. His parents had 100 grandchildren. On my mothers side, my a 2nd gt. grandfather also had 18 and all by the same wife. I think it was mainly the lack of birth control, TV and central heating.

[Kiamichi]

Why we're families so much larger 100 years ago?

Heading to town for therapy session. Will check for answers when I get back home.

How do we know they were larger?
They may have been but I've never seen any stats on that.

Check any U. S. census returns from a century ago.

[Red Oak]

Make that:

In my Family cemetery are:
1 G G G Grandparent
3 G G Grandparents
4 G Grandparents
2 Grandparents
1 Parent

[crocmommy]

My mother grew up on a farm. She had 5 siblings. She is the only one left now since she is a late in life surprise baby...

[millergrovesue]

I don't think that would answer the question.
People didn't move round much then and tended to die close to where they were born.
That would put families all in the same cemetery.
You won't see that today, regardless the size of the family.

I've commented many times since moving here that the Hopkins County family tree has about 4 branches. I've never lived where there were so many intermarried families. Reminds me of the old days of the cedar choppers who lived outside Austin in the hill country.