Philadelphia gentry: Fertility and family limitation among an American Aristocracy

Summary

In this paper some findings of a family reconstitution study of a group of high-upper-class American families are reported. The study extends over almost 200 years, from the early colonial period to the Civil War. A substantive analysis of fertility patterns of a group of socially significant Philadelphia families provides interesting comparisons with the demographic experience of European social elites and raises additional questions regarding certain assumptions of classical demographic transition theory. The focus of the analysis is on fertility trends and evidence concerning the initiation of family limitation. If this group took a vanguard position by initiating the practice of family limitation in society as did other social elite groups, one might anticipate some evidence of this by the late eighteenth century.

This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociologicai Association in San Francisco, September 1978. The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance of Etienne van de Walle and John Durand.

This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociologicai Association in San Francisco, September 1978. The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance of Etienne van de Walle and John Durand.

Notes

This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociologicai Association in San Francisco, September 1978. The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance of Etienne van de Walle and John Durand.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Louise Kantrow

Population Affairs Officer, Fertility and Family Planning Studies Section, Population Division, United Nations