Own-child estimates of U. S. white fertility, 1886-1899.

Abstract

Uses data from a 1/750 household sample of the 1900 census manuscripts to make own-child estimates of fertility behavior among American white women in the years between 1886 and 1899. Fertility behavior is estimated by linking children's records with those of their mothers. New estimates of American total fertility rates for each year are provided separately for native and foreign-born whites. The degree of conscious control of fertility at this important period in American demographic history is estimated on the basis of age-specific patterns of reproduction. Variations in fertility patterns within major regional and urban-rural residence categories are analyzed, especially for the last 5 years of the century. Data on trends in fertility in the last 14 years of the century suggest the close correspondence between the fertility decline and the development of a mass educational system, particularly for native whites. Patterns for the foreign born during this time period are less easily interpretable within a modernization framework. Evidence on patterns of family limitation indicates the degree to which this period represented a transition from the minimal degree of conscious control over fertility at earlier points in the 19th century to the extremely rationalized system of reproduction which developed after 1940. The significant amount of fertility control at this time is not surprising, given other related studies, particularly since highly effective methods of birth control were probably not generally practiced. Abortion, however, may have been a very important means of family limitation. Patterns of reproduction in the late 1880s were highly varied within the United States. Native white women in the urban North Atlantic region had essentially achieved modern patterns of fertility limitation by the turn of the century, while Southern farm women were only a few steps removed from natural fertility. Important questions are raised concerning how populations with relatively similar cultural and ethnic heritages could achieve such different reproduction patterns. Charts and graphs illustrating birth rates, fertility rates and patterns are given.