Marriages among people with disabilities in 19th-century Sweden: marital age and spouse’s characteristics

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map showing the Sundsvall region with the parishes included in this study.

Table 1. Categorization of disability based on the marks of impairments in the 19th-century parish registers of the Sundsvall region.

Blind	Visual defects from weak-sighted, short-sighted, and blind
Deaf mute	Hearing or communication dysfunctions, from bad hearing to deaf and from difficulties in speaking or stammering to mute
Crippled	Physical dysfunctions, e.g. lame, limping, walking on crutches, missing body parts, hare-lipped, smaller in size, crippled
Idiots	Mental dysfunctions since childhood and not having developed a full intellect as an adult, e.g. foolish, silly, and minor knowledge
Insane	Mental dysfunctions identified in adulthood having fully developed intellect as a child, e.g. insane, feeble-minded, and crazy
Multiple disabled	Combination of two or more of above disabilities

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden

Note: Concerning the distinction made between cases labeled ‘idiots’ and ‘insane’, see Drugge (1988), (Haage, 2017) and Statistics Sweden (1907).

Figure 2. Percentage distribution by type of disability among the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) who married in the Sundsvall region.

Table 2. Social classification scheme based on the DDB’s occupational codes.

Upper strata	1. Large-scale business entrepreneurs
	2. Higher civil officials
Middle strata	3. Small-scale entrepreneurs in trade and industry, master artisans and craftsmen; farmers, tenant farmers
	4. Lower civil officials
Lower strata	5. Skilled laborers, craftsmen and artisans below the rank of master
	6. Unskilled laborers in trade and industry; farmhands, crofters, maidservants

Source: Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Table 3. Mean and median ages at first marriage among the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) compared to average measures of the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

	Disabled Men (N = 119)	Spouses to disabled men (N = 119)	Disabled women (N = 69)	Spouses to disabled women (N = 69)
Mean age (years)	30.4	28.2	29.3	30.7
Median age (years)	28.5	26.6	28.6	29.0

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: Spouses to the disabled men and women did not necessarily marry for their first time.

Table 4. Age gap at first marriage between disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) and the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

	Between disabled man and his female spouse	Between disabled women and her male spouse	Between all disabled individuals and their spouses
Mean age (years)	2.16	−1.34	0.87
Median age (years)	2.05	0.36	1.41

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: The age gap is calculated from the marriage age of the disabled spouse minus the age of his/her spouse. The negative figure for the mean age of disabled women is generated because their spouses were on average 1.34 years older.

Table 5. The five most common occupations held at marriage by the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) and by the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

Occupation	Disabled men N (%)	Disabled women N (%)	Male spouses to disabled women N (%)	Female spouses to disabled men N (%)
Farmhand (dräng)	31 (27.9)	-	19 (28.8)	-
Cottager (torpare)	20 (18.0)	-	7 (10.6)	-
Unskilled laborer (arbetare)	18 (16.2)	-	16 (24.2)	-
Farmer (bonde)	10 (9.0)	-	7 (10.6)	1 (1.2)
Maidservant (piga)	-	46 (93.9)	-	82 (97.6)
Total N (%)	111 (100)	49 (100)	66 (100)	84 (100)

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: The percentages are based on the cases within gender and disability category.

Figure 3. Percentage distribution by social strata based on the occupations held at marriage by the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) and by the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

Table 6. Distribution of social endogamy/exogamy regarding the marriage patterns based on the socio-economic background of the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) and of the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

	Socio-economic origin (father’s occupation)		Socio-economic status (spouse’s occupation)
	Men %	Women %	Men %	Women %
Endogamous patterns (both spouses allocated to the same strata)	43.7	31.9	54.6	60.9
Exogamous patterns (disabled spouses allocated to higher strata than their partner)	8.4	14.5	8.4	0
Exogamous patterns (disabled spouses allocated to lower strata than their partner)	12.6	5.8	0.8	7.2
Unknown cases	35.3	47.8	36.1	31.9
Total & (N)	100 (119)	100 (69)	100 (119)	100 (69)

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: The percentages are based on the cases within each gender and disability category. Socio-economic origin refers to fathers’ occupations of the individuals when marrying or just before, while socio-economic status refers to the occupation the spouses held themselves when marrying or just before. Unknown cases appear when occupational data are missing in the parish registers or are incomplete concerning the fathers, one of the spouses or both, thus preventing comparisons from being made.

Table 7. Socio-economic origin (father’s occupation) at marriage of the disabled men (born 1800–1850) and of the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

		Disabled men
Socio-economic origin (father’s occupation)		Upper/ middle strata N (%)	Lower strata N (%)	Unknown/undefined N (%)	Total N (%)
Their spouses	Upper/middle strata	23 (51.1)	15 (26.8)	3 (16.7)	41 (34.5)
	Lower strata	10 (22.2)	29 (51.8)	5 (27.8)	44 (37.0)
	Unknown/undefined	12 (26.7)	12 (21.4)	10 (55.6)	34 (28.6)
	Total N (%)	45 (100)	56 (100)	18 (100)	119 (100)

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: See Table 6. Chi-square tests indicate that the differences are statistically significant (p-value = 0.001; df = 4; chisq = 18.26).

Table 8. Socio-economic origin (fathers’ occupation) at marriage of the disabled women (born 1800–1850) and of the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

		Disabled women
Socio-economic origin (father’s occupation)		Upper/ middle strata N (%)	Lower strata N (%)	Unknown/undefined N (%)	Total N (%)
Their spouses	Upper/middle strata	8 (33.3)	4 (9.8)	0 (0)	12 (17.4)
	Lower strata	10 (41.7)	14 (34.1)	2 (50.0)	26 (37.7)
	Unknown/undefined	6 (25.0)	23 (56.1)	2 (50.0)	31 (44.9)
	Total N (%)	24 (100)	41 (100)	4 (100)	69 (100)

Source: Digitized parish registers, the Sundsvall region, Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University, Sweden.

Note: See Table 6. Chi-square tests indicate that the differences are statistically significant (p-value = 0.005; df = 4; chisq = 9.258).

Figure 4. Distribution of spatial endogamy/exogamy regarding the marriage patterns based on birth parish of the disabled men and women (born 1800–1850) and of the spouses they married in the Sundsvall region.

Drugge, U. (1988). Om husförhörslängder som medicinsk urkund: Psykisk sjukdom och förståndshandikapp i en historisk källa [Church examination registers as a source on medical information: Psychological illness and mental disability in historical data]. Scriptum nr 8: Rapportserie utgiven av Forskningsarkivet. Umeå: Umeå universitet.

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Haage, H. (2017). Disability in individual life and past society: Life-course perspectives of people with disabilities in the Sundsvall region of Sweden in the nineteenth century (PhD dissertation). Umeå universitet, Umeå.

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Statistics Sweden. (1907). Bidrag till Sveriges officiella statistik, A) Befolkningsstatistik tredje afdelningen. Statistiska centralbyråns underdåniga berättelse för år 1900. Stockholm: Statistiska Centralbyrån.

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Data availability statement

For more information about the availability of the data used in this article (19th-century Swedish parish registers digitized by the Demographic Data Base, DDB), visit the below websites at the Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research (CEDAR), Umeå University, Sweden:

https://www.umu.se/en/centre-for-demographic-and-ageing-research/databases/parish-registers-databases/

https://www.umu.se/en/centre-for-demographic-and-ageing-research/search-tools/