Preliminary Programme

In the highlands and islands of nineteenth century Scotland both men and women displayed high average ages of marriage and high rates of celibacy. This has been attributed to the fact that the younger generation had to wait for the demise of the older generation in order to inherit the family farm, or croft, at which point they could then support a family of their own.

The story was more complex than this, however, as very often the crofters had several surviving children, only one of whom could inherit the croft. Was the timing of non-inheriting siblings affected by the demise of one or other or of both parents? Or did they have other strategies open to them, unaffected by the survival of the older generation?

This paper will use census records and marriage certificates from the Isle of Skye 1861-1901 linked to other demographic data across the half-century to consider the timing of marriage of couples on Skye, in relation to the lives, and particularly the deaths, of the parents of the bride and groom. Nineteenth century Scottish marriage certificates list the names of both the parents of both principal parties and note whether or not each of the older generation was deceased. By linking this information to other records, including death certificates, it is, in many cases, possible to ascertain when a particular death took place, and to see how quickly the death knell for a member of one generation was followed by wedding bells for one of their offspring. The relative impact of a mother’s death versus that of a father, can then be gauged, as can the varying impact of the death of fathers within different occupational groups, and the implications of a parent’s death for the marriage chances of siblings at various points in the birth-order spectrum.

The paper will conclude by considering the relationship between parental death and the timing of marriage in an urban setting, contrasting conditions in a community where life chances were largely dictated by labour-market conditions, with those prevailing under a subsistence economy, where access to the land was of prime importance. (Show less)

This paper will examine the way in which occupational succession was achieved in a region which practiced partible inheritance and whether there is evidence of postponment of the division of goods following a death in the parental generation. The study will be based on a family reconstitution and network analysis of the town of Esslingen in Southwestern Germany (Show less)

Goa’s territory in India was ruled by the Portuguese from 1510 until 1961 and was the head of the Portuguese Oriental Empire. During almost five centuries a singular society was created by the influence of the christians in a major hindu and muslim area. By the other hand the ancient social structure of casts persisted even among the Christians, which became a unique example in India. In the18th century the Portuguese government of Goa produced statistical documentation – even for the hindu communities – as well as the local church, that allows the knowledge of Goa’s ancient demographical behaviours.
The lecture attempts to briefly enunciate the sources relevant for the study of the demography of the Velhas Conquistas (Old Conquests). In this context we will analyse the «mapas estatísticos da população» (statistical population maps) elaborated by order of the King, the available parochial records and also the Christian register produced by the Diocese of Goa.
Secondly we will deal with the principal aspects of Goa’s demography in each territory as the population growth rates, religious composition and the minorities (Europeans, mixed race and slaves). The birth, death and marriages crude rates will also be analysed, as well as the illegitimate percentage, infant mortality rate and the wedding seasonality. (Show less)