Stepfamilies, inheritance, and living arrangements in a rural society of Germany

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores whether, in terms of inheritance and living arrangements, stepfamilies differed from other families. It is done for the parish of Belm near the town of Osnabrück, Northwest Germany, with a database that includes a family reconstitution 1650–1860, household lists, sources on landholding and other nominative data. – The family reconstitution, analysed by a lifetable approach, shows that the great majority of men, widowed below age 50, found a new spouse. The same is true for women below age 40. Remarriages took place remarkably soon, and both widowers and widows usually chose a much younger partner. Thus, many stepfamilies emerged. – According to the regional law, farms were impartible, and the youngest son was preferred as heir. If, however, a remarriage had taken place, the farm was supposed to go to a child from the first marriage. Due to a regime of joint marital property, widows were in a rather strong position. The database reveals to what extent the practices of property transfers followed the rules, and several legal disputes show the lines of potential conflict. – Census lists from the nineteenth century show that, after retirement, stepparents frequently lived in a separate cottage, running their own household economy, if the farm was large enough. Biological parents usually stayed in the main house, as part of their successor’s household. Moreover, orphaned future heirs of large holdings tended to go into service on another farm, instead of working under their stepfather’s rule. This, however, was also true where the future heir’s sibling was the interim manager of the holding. In sum, the cleavage in complex families was not inevitably between children and stepparents, nor between the offspring of different marriages. Proximity and distance between family members depended on many factors, shared biological descent was just one of them.