Households as agents of change? Perspectives from the Low Countries, eighteenth-twentieth centuries
Bruno Blondé and Jord Hanus
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No abstract available.

A fine balance. Household finance and financial strategies of Antwerp households, 17th-18th century
Heidi Deneweth
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This article tests the use of probate inventories for distinguishing wealth groups on the basis of their wealth and the composition of their estates. This method can bring new arguments in the analysis of social mobility and intergenerational wealth transfers. The pilot study compares two small sets of Antwerp inventories for respectively 1660 and 1780. The sources are analysed on two levels. The content of marriage contracts and testaments suggests that the protection of the surviving partner and his independent management of the estate gained priority over the protection of original family estates. The assets and liabilities tend to confirm patterns of social polarisation and suggest a diminishing access to credit for the lower social groups, possibly accelerating their impoverishment.

The rural succession myth Occupational careers and household formation of peasants’ and farmers’ offspring around 1800
Richard Paping and Erwin Karel
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Two cases considering the farmers in Eastern Marne in Groningen and the peasants in Oosterhesselen in Drenthe in the period 1740-1860 show that family succession on farmsteads was less common in the Netherlands than is often assumed and was certainly less widespread than in other north-western European countries. Analysing the careers of farmers’ and peasants’ children in the period around 1800 confirms that the acquisition of the parental holding was far less important in rural household formation than generally suggested. During the period of rapid population growth studied, the children of those with smaller holdings had particularly limited chances of family succession or of acquiring a farmstead in a different way, and had very high chances of downward social mobility.

Household structure, resource allocation and child well-being. A comparison across family systems
Jan Kok, Mattijs Vandezande and Kees Mandemakers
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Using a unique database containing detailed household information of more than 30,000 Dutch children (1850-1909), we compare infant and child mortality in the ‘stem family’ region of Eastern Netherlands to mortality in the ‘nuclear family’ northwestern part of the country. We elaborate on the relation between household structure and mortality by adapting the model proposed by Mosley and Chen. We study the impact of different types of co-resident kin (grandparents, siblings, uncles and aunts) in ‘normal’ situations (both parents alive) and ‘crisis’ situations (one or both parents absent). Our findings confirm that intact three-generation families – which were found mainly in the stem region – were beneficial for young children, provided there were not too many young children. In the nuclear area, co-residence with grandparents was an efficient way to counteract family crises. In the stem family region, this ‘safety valve’ function of households was less conspicuous. Overall, however, kin functioned in the same way in both regions, with some kin (especially grandparents) playing an altruistic role, having a positive effect on child survival, and other kin competing for resources and diminishing the survival chances of infants and children.

Intensification of family relations? Changes in the choice of marriage witnesses in the Netherlands, 1830-1950
Hilde Bras
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This study examines whether and why a process of intensification of family relations took place during the long nineteenth century by investigating Dutch marriage couples’ selection of witnesses. The results show that during the period 1830-1950, lateral kin (siblings, siblings-in-law and cousins) were increasingly selected as marriage witnesses, at the expense of professional witnesses and patronage relations. This ‘lateralization’ process accelerated after 1890, with the take-off of industrialization and urbanization in the Netherlands and continued at least until 1950. The intensification of kin ties was not only related to economic development and social class formation, it was part of a broader cultural process of familiarization, which started among the urban bourgeoisie in the western part of the Netherlands, but spread to other regions and social groups.