Wielkość i struktura gospodarstw domowych w Siemiatyczach w 1807 roku
The Size and Composition of Households in Siemiatycze in 1807

Summary/Abstract: The article has been written to reveal the main features of households of Siemiatycze with their dominant model and the presence of various categories of household members – relatives, servants and lodgers. In that way it will be possible to join the discussion on the geography of the European structure of households. According to the accepted model Europe is divided into two spheres: western and eastern; the model has been later modified. In the western sphere the dominant household has been simple with high participation rates of servants and tenants; and in the eastern sphere – eastern part of Poland belongs to that sphere – the dominant households were elaborate, generally without hired blue-collar workers. The source basis for the research has been a hand-written list of Roman Catholic parishes of 1807. After analysing the sources it has turned out that in Siemiatycze, in spite of the village being situated in the eastern sphere, the dominant model of households was the one typical of Western Europe. Simple households were in the majority (74%), and multi-family households were rare (7%).

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