M.T. Smith

Consanguineous marriage among the Fulani.

The Fulani are a broad ethnic category of nomadic and seminomadic pastoralists and agropastoralists living in the semiarid Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. The Fulani are patrilineal, patrilocal, and moderately polygynous, with arranged first marriages accompanied by the payment of bridewealth, ideally in the form of cattle. Consanguineous marriage is frequent, with first or second cousin marriage preferred. In this paper we present data on levels of consanguineous marriage among the Fulani of northern Burkina Faso and test the hypothesis that inbreeding may be more frequent when there is a scarcity of cattle available, since bridewealth demands are thought to be reduced with close-kin marriage. Among 308 womens marriages, 203 (65.8%) were between kin up to and including second cousins, and 102 (33.1%) were between nonkin. Among 276 mens marriages, 196 (71.0%) were between kin up to and including second cousins, and 77 (27.9%) were between nonkin. The mean population inbreeding coefficient (a) was 0.0355 for women, and 0.0374 for men. No increase was found in population levels of inbreeding estimated from marriages contracted after the droughts of 1973 and 1984, which drastically reduced the Fulanis cattle stocks. However, a significantly higher rate of consanguineous marriage was found in families owning the fewest cattle.

Isonymic analysis of post-famine relationships in the Ards Peninsula, N.E. Ireland: Effects of geographical and politico-religious boundaries

During and in the decades after the Irish Famine of 1846 to 1851, the population of the Ards Peninsula, Co. Down, both declined in numbers and changed in its composition. In 1863 the surnames of all resident householders were collected as part of a national valuation. These data have been used to calculate random isonymy values between civil parishes and the resultant matrix plotted by nonmetric multidimensional scaling. The results revealed both a major geographical barrier to gene flow, and politico‐religious boundaries in existence since the early 17th century. The inter‐relationships between random isonymy, geographical distance, and religious denominational frequencies within the peninsula were investigated by multiple regression analysis. While geographical influences predominated over short and long distances, in the intermediate distance range religion played the dominant role. The net effect of these subdivisions, in combination with famine‐associated population losses, would have been to reduce local effective population sizes significantly, thus enhancing the potential for genetic drift and random inbreeding.

Genetic structure of the Azores: marriage and inbreeding in Flores

Flores is one of the smallest and most westerly islands of the Atlantic archipelago of the Azores. This preliminary account of the populations demography and genetic structure uses dispensations to contract consanguineous marriages taken from the Roman Catholic marriage registers in order to estimate mean inbreeding rates in the population over the period 1860-1980. Comparisons are made with inbreeding rates on the Portuguese mainland and elsewhere in Western Europe, and reasons suggested to explain the rather high rates of inbreeding encountered on Flores.

The Origins of the Irish in Northern England: An Isonymic Analysis of Data from the 1881 Census

In the mid nineteenth century, the Irish became the largest immigrant group in Britain. Despite impressions of homogeneity delivered by the dominant historiographies, these migrants were in reality complex and changing groups whose variegated nature has been underplayed by historians. One of the reasons why the Irish tend to be lumped together as an undifferentiated mass is the lack of systematic analyses of the particular regional and provincial provenance of those who made homes in England, Wales and Scotland. Historians speculate about origins; but few have interrogated the census to provide robust assertions about where in Ireland particular migrants came from. As such, complexity and subtlety are absent. The failure of the census systematically to capture specific birthplace data offers one explanation of why this is so. The sheer difficulty of abstracting data on birthplace to arrive at meaningful quantitative perspectives provides another. This essay uses a technique from biological anthropology called Random Isonymy which enables us to substitute surname data for birthplace data in order to establish the major interregional interconnections between the two islands which are evinced in Irish migration pathways. We show that the close association between name and place in Irish culture enables robust conclusions about the provenance of migrants to be derived from surname data drawn from the digitised 1881 census. Our work suggests that names may underpin cultural transfer, and thus could help explain why particular types of Irish culture emerged in one town or region but not in another. For now, this essays discussion is restricted to an explication upon the robustness of the method.

Paddy and Biddy no more: An evolutionary analysis of the decline in Irish Catholic forenames among descendants of 19th century Irish migrants to Britain

Background: Recent research into cultural evolution has suggested that the distribution of many culturally neutral traits, including forenames, can be explained by a model of random copying, analogous to the process of random genetic drift. Aim: We test the proposition that in particular circumstances some forenames may not be neutral but, again by analogy with population genetics, may be subject to selection. Data sources and methods: The case study used to test this idea is the situation of Irish migrants and their descendants in late 19th century England and Wales. We compare forename frequencies among first- and second-generation Irish at the 1881 census of England and Wales, and show that in all counties studied the frequencies of the indicative Irish Catholic forenames Patrick and Bridget were much lower in the second-generation Irish, a result which applies consistently throughout 17 counties of England and Wales chosen for their substantial Irish-born populations. Conclusion: These results are explicable under a model of cultural evolution, informed by the historiography of Irish migration after the Great Famine, including the perception of derogatory Irish stereotypes exemplified by the sobriquets ‘Paddy’ and ‘Biddy’.

Nineteenth-century population structure of Ireland and of the Irish in England and Wales: an analysis by isonymy.

This article uses isonymy to test predictions about the genetic structure of Irish populations made on the basis of geography and population history, and compares the mid‐nineteenth century population of Ireland with the late nineteenth century Irish‐born population resident in England and Wales. Surname data were derived from (1) the householders named in the index to Griffiths valuation of Ireland, a survey undertaken between 1846 and 1864, and (2) of Irish‐born residents named in 1881 census of England and Wales. Visual representation of the Griffiths valuation isonymy matrix by multidimensional scaling (MDS) gives a result very close to the geographical distribution of Irish counties, and Mantel matrix correlation shows random isonymy between counties to be negatively associated with geographical distance, generally decaying according to a pattern of isolation‐by‐distance, with exceptions that can be explained in terms of Irish population history. Some 141,360 Irish‐born residents in England and Wales at the 1881 census were assigned to an Irish county of origin, and random isonymy by county of birth for this group also shows a close correspondence to Irish geography. The Mantel matrix correlation between the Irish in Ireland and the Irish in England is 0.855, R2 = 0.7306, indicating that the emigrant Irish in England were representative of the populations of the Irish counties from which they were derived. This result, together with the strong geographical patterning of surnames in Ireland, suggests that isonymy can be used to investigate the population structure and origin of Irish emigrant groups in Britain and potentially throughout the Irish diaspora. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2009.

Estimating inbreeding from the Faculty Office Registers, 1534-1540

Estimates of inbreeding are rather scarce for British populations. A number of studies, especially of Scottish island populations, have focused on pedigree analysis, whilst others have used survey methods or inference from isonymy. By comparison with continental Europe, however, little is known of the historical development of inbreeding. This is undoubtedly due to the lack of evidence from dispensations to marry blood relatives, which are routinely available in the records of marriage of the Roman Catholic church. The paper uses as its data source the Faculty Office Registers, 1534-1540, which were the product of a new system of issuing dispensations following the Dispensations Act of 1533, and which are among the earliest administrative records of the Church of England, founded as a result of Henry VIIIs breach with Rome. Dispensations are recorded in the Faculty Office until 1540, when all prohibitions on marriage beyond the proscribed relationships laid down in Leviticus were lifted. The data suggest surprisingly low levels of consanguineous marriage, including a lack of first-cousin marriages. These findings are discussed in terms of the reliability of the archive, and of the social and religious views attending marriage between blood relatives in the medieval and early modern periods.

Isonymic relationships in the parish of Fylingdales, North Yorkshire, in 1851

Lasker s coefficient of relationship by isonymy was used to analyse surname data taken from the 1851 Census returns for Fylingdales parish, North Yorkshire. At this time the population had a thriving maritime economy based on the coastal town of Robin Hoods Bay, as well as agricultural and some industrial activity inland at Thorpe , Raw and Stoupe Brow. There is a marked heterogeneity in the distribution of surnames within the parish, with both place and profession constraining isonymic relationships. Within-group kinship is high among the mariners , fishermen and shipowners of Robin Hoods Bay and Thorpe , and the relationship between these different maritime groups is also very high. Kinship is generally far lower both within and between the land-based occupational groups, and between these and the seafarers .

‘Scottish Migrants in the Northern “Irish Sea Industrial Zone”, 1841-1911: Preliminary Patterns and Perspectives’

INTERNAL MIGRATION was a major factor shaping modern industrial society in Victorian Britain and its nature and effects have been extensively studied.1 A disproportionate interest has been shown in the large flows of migrants who crossed the Irish Sea and became the largest non-native-born group in Britain.2 For many years, however, the most understudied group — given their sheer numbers as well as their importance as sources of capital, enterprise and labour — were the Scots who settled

Cousin marriage in south-western england in the nineteenth century

Knowledge of inbreeding levels in historical times is necessary to estimate the health consequences of past inbreeding, and to contextualize the current public debate about cousin marriage in Britain. This research aims to calculate the level of cousin marriage using the intensive technique of multi-source parish reconstitution and to determine whether village organization, religion and occupational class influenced the level of consanguineous marriage. A wide variety of documentary sources were used to create extensive pedigrees of spouses in over 800 marriages in the 19th century in the rural villages of Stourton and Kilmington. The closed village of Stourton had higher levels of inbreeding than the open village of Kilmington. Catholics had lower rates of 1st cousin marriage but higher rates of 2nd cousin marriage than Protestants. Farmers had higher levels of 1st cousin marriage than labourers. The levels of consanguinity in south-western Wiltshire in the 19th century were related to the economic structure of the villages and the religion and social class of the spouses.