Illegitimate Fertility in the Urals During the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Abstract

Out-of-wedlock births are one of the important aspects of the demographic history in late imperial Russia. The percentage of children born to unwed mothers in the Russian Empire during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was lower than the general average in European countries. However, in the specific context of the Russian demographic order, with earlier age at marriage and more universal nuptiality than in Europe generally, the study of out-of-wedlock births and especially their spatial distribution, acquires special significance. This work is aimed at studying the dynamics of out-of-wedlock births in Perm province in the decades around 1900. The authors pay particular attention to out-of-wedlock births in the city of Ekaterinburg, using official statistics and the “Ural Population Project” database, URAPP based on parish registers with vital events in five city parishes. The authors reconstruct the dynamics of out-of-wedlock births in each of the twelve Perm province counties, reflecting a general downward trend, especially in counties containing a significant proportion of Old Believers. It is established that the average level of illegitimate births among the rural population was 4%, and in cities — 9%. The out-of-wedlock birth rate increased during times of wars and social upheavals, especially in cities differing from parish to parish. In St Epiphany parish of Ekaterinburg, the illegitimate birth rate reached 41% during the famine of 1892. Concurrently, at least 11% of the women, including some from relatively wealthy families, baptised up to seven “illegitimate” children in the parish. This gives grounds to perceive the phenomenon of out-of-wedlock births not only because of the unfortunate circumstances for young women, but also as a sign of modernisation in the sphere of family and marriage relations, slowed down by archaic legislation.