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Family Care of the Elderly in the US North 1850 – 1870: Boon or Burden?
| Among the “Yankee” descendents of New England families who were spread across the Northern tier of the US, elderly men were usually living with adult children. In fact, 67%, of the men over 65 with living sons ages 20 or older resided in the same household with at least one of them in 1850. A further 17 % of these older men had sons in the same “place”. It was usually the youngest son who remained behind with his parents. This paper discusses how this affected his life compared with those of his male siblings who usually had migrated away from the family household and often quite long distances, whether to pioneer or to work outside of farming. The data comes from a genealogical sample which has been linked to both the 1850 and 1870 censuses, both of which provide data on household composition, wealth and occupation. Information on sets of male siblings found in 1850 traced to the 1870 census, when they would have been in their prime earning years, will be examined to see how remaining with the parents affected their wealth, their choice of occupation and, as far as can be determined, whether this particular sibling inherited the parental farm. Whether remaining behind delayed marriage and, perhaps also lowered fertility, will also be studied using event history analysis.
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