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Title: The fertility of the Irish in the United States in 1910

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2006

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Abstract: The relatively high marital fertility of the Irish in the United States in the 19th century has long been interpreted as evidence for the persistence of a distinctive Irish culture in the United States. This claim echoes a similar view of Irish-American marriage patterns. Recent work has shown that the marriage patterns of the Irish in the United States were similar to native-born whites with similar occupational and other characteristics. This paper studies the reasons for the high fertility of Irish-Americans in 1910. Irish-born women in that year had much larger families than the typical native-born woman, and little of the difference can be attributed to other characteristics. Second-generation Irishwomen were less distinctive in this regard, although even they differed from the natives primarily because of a different proclivity to have a large family. Our results signal the complexity of immigrant adjustment to a new environment; the Irish largely abandoned one aspect of Irish demographic behavior while clinging to another.

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Authors: Moehling, Carolyn M.; Guinnane, Timothy W.; O Grada, Cormac

Periodical (Full): Explorations

Issue: 3

Volume: 43

Pages: 465-485

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Migration and Immigration

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