Surviving the loss of the parent in a nineteenth century Dutch provincial town

Until late in the nineteenth century, the loss of a parent: was an event with which many children were confronted. It generally endangered the smooth operation of the family, could produce dramatic declines in the well-being of the children, and could ultimately affect the health of the children. By comparing the survival rates of paternal orphans, maternal orphans, stepchildren and children in complete families in a nineteenth-century Dutch town we were able to study the effect of parental loss on children. Data were collected from vital registration and population registers, giving information on several factors which might influence the survival chances of the child. Mulltivariate analysis showed that in general children were worse off when they had lost their biological mother than when they had lost their biological father. The effect of the gender of the surviving parent varied considerably according to the age of the child at the time of death of the parent, and according to the time which had passed since the death of the parent. The role of the father was more important than that of the mother when the child had survived the first six months of his life, in particular in the first months after the death of the father.