"Je zoudt maar last van mij hebben". Verwanten in het Nederlandse huishouden, 1860-1940

Abstract

This article studies regional and social differentiation in extended households in The Netherlands, measured at the birth of the HSN research persons. Between ten to fifteen percent of their native families were extended, multiple families were very rare. After a short peak in the 1870s, a secular decline in extended households set in. Kin co-residence declined faster in the cities than in the countryside. Not surprisingly, extended households occurred most frequent among farmers, who always could use an extra hand on the farm. In the eastern part of the country, co-residency was very common. Here, impartible inheritance rules prevailed and the heir was obliged to take in his parents as well as his unmarried siblings.