Hilde Bras

Standardization of Pathways to Adulthood?: An Analysis of Dutch Cohorts Born Between 1850 and 1900

This article examines pathways to adulthood among Dutch cohorts born in the second half of the nineteenth century. Although largely overlooked by previous studies, theory suggests that life courses of young adults born during this period were already influenced by a process of standardization, in the sense that their life courses became more similar over time. Using data from a Dutch registry-based sample, we examine household trajectories: that is, sequences of living arrangements of young adults aged 15–40. Our study shows that for successive cohorts, household trajectories became more similar. We identified six types of trajectories: early death, life-cycle service, early family formation, late family formation, singlehood, and childless but with partner. Overtime, early family formation gradually became the “standard” trajectory to adulthood. However, late family formation and singlehood, tcommon pathways within the preindustrial western European marriage pattern, remained widespread among cohorts born in the late nineteenth century. Laboring class youths, farmers’ daughters, young people of mixed religious background, and urban-born youngsters were the nineteenth century forerunners of a standard pathway to adulthood.

Maids to the city: migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands (1850–1950)

This article deals with the migration patterns of female domestic servants from the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands during the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The main topics are rates of servant migration, major destinations, strategies behind migration, and determinants of migration across provincial boundaries. A multimethod approach is used, combining the analysis of a data set of life courses of servants with an investigation of qualitative material such as interviews, letters, autobiographies, and government reports. Migration rates of domestic servants peaked in the last decades of the 19th century. Major destinations of Zeeland servants shifted from local and regional jobs with farmers to positions outside the province, particularly in the growing Dutch cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. Family strategies of survival and possibly of risk diversification and upward mobility were behind this migration. However, qualitative sources show that the out-migration of Zeeland servants must also be understood in terms of individual strategies, such as the desire for higher wages, emancipation from the parental home, and participation in more exciting city life.

Unraveling the intergenerational transmission of fertility: genetic and shared-environment effects during the demographic transition in the Netherlands, 1810-1910

Differential fertility can be attributed to economic and cultural factors, but the family also plays an important role. Fertility behavior may be transmitted from parents to children through heritable dispositions or via socialization. Previous research has shown, however, that the expression of genetic effects depends on the interplay with the environment. In this article we take a long-term view and examine how the different mechanisms shifted over time and across social and local contexts on the basis of a large-scale database containing 100 thousand sibling pairs born between 1810 and 1870 in the Dutch province of Zeeland, a society undergoing demographic transition and industrialization. Corroborating earlier research, we find a significant increase in the expression of heritabilities and a fading of social influence for women born after the 1840s, who started their reproductive careers during the historical fertility decline in this region. Our study points out that the ‘social control’ of fertility was particularly reduced for women born in towns, women originating from the urban or rural laboring classes, and women from communities with a relatively liberal religious climate. Our findings are in line with research emphasizing the important role played by women in decision-making processes around childbearing, and could indicate the conditions that enhanced womens position in household bargaining during the historical fertility decline.

Relatives as spouses: Preferences and opportunities for kin marriage in a Western society

This article investigates the determinants of kin marriage on the basis of a large‐scale database covering a major rural part of The Netherlands during the period 1840–1922. We studied three types of kin marriage: first cousin marriage, deceased spouses sibling marriage, and sibling set exchange marriage. Almost 2% of all marriages were between first cousins, 0.85% concerned the sibling of a former spouse, while 4.14% were sibling set exchange marriages. While the first two types generally declined across the study period, sibling set exchange marriage reached a high point of almost 5% between 1890 and 1900. We found evidence for three mechanisms explaining the choice for relatives as spouses, centering both on preferences and on opportunities for kin marriage. Among the higher and middle strata and among farmers, kin marriages were commonly practiced and played an important role in the process of social class formation in the late nineteenth century. An increased choice for cousin marriage as a means of enculturation was observed among orthodox Protestants in the Bible Belt area of The Netherlands. Finally, all studied types of kin marriage took place more often in the relatively isolated, inland provinces of The Netherlands. Sibling set exchange marriages were a consequence of the enlarged supply of same‐generation kin as a result of the demographic transition. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009.

The effects of siblings on the migration of women in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands, 1829–1940

This study explores the extent to which the presence and activities of siblings shaped the chances of women migrating to rural and urban areas in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands during the second half of the nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century. Shared-frailty Cox proportional hazard analyses of longitudinal data from historical population registers show that siblings exerted an additive impact on womens migration, independently of temporal and household characteristics. Just how siblings influenced womens migration depended on regional modes of production and on employment opportunities. In the Zeeland region, sisters channelled each other into service positions. In the Pays de Herve, where men and women found industrial work in the Walloon cities, women were as much influenced by their brothers’ activities. Evidence is found for two mechanisms explaining the effects of siblings: micro-economic notions of joint-household decision-making and social capital theory.

Sibling Position and Marriage Timing in the Netherlands, 1840-1922: A Comparison across Social Classes, Local Contexts, and Time

Research on the effects of sibling position on marriage timing has produced ambivalent findings, suggesting that birth order effects were contingent on social, local, and historical contexts. Based on a large database of marriage certificates from five Dutch provinces between 1840 and 1922, we examine the influence of birth order on marriage timing. Our main conclusion is that sibling position became less important for marriage timing during the nineteenth century. This trend can be considered part of the transition from the West-European marriage pattern to a marriage pattern characterized by more universal marriage in which personal preferences became more significant.

The role of the wedding place. Community context and marital timing in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands

This study investigates how community characteristics influenced the timing of marriage of men and women in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands on the basis of a large scale database consisting of marriage certificates covering five provinces of the Netherlands between 1840 and 1922. The results show the significance of religious context for understanding marriage timing in the nineteenth century. Living in a predominantly Catholic community resulted in a later marriage for both men and women, while living in a community that was dominated by Orthodox Protestants resulted in an earlier marriage, particularly for men. In addition, residence in a municipality with a high mobility, a large population size and a high birth rate speeded up marriage timing among both men and women. The results indicate that religious restraint and the urbanization and openness of places are, next to parental social class, of vast importance for understanding marriage timing. As our study only addressed those who married, future research will have to show whether the same mechanisms were at work for those that experienced permanent celibacy.