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CHAPTER XI. 1'HE NEGRO FAMIL·Y. 27. The Size of the Family.-There were in the Seventh Ward, in 1896, 7751 members of families (including 17I persons living alone), and 1924 single lodgers.' The average size of the family, without lodgers and boarders, was 3.18. FAMILIES ACCORDING TO SIZE. Number in Family. One .. Two. Three Four. Five. Six .... Seven Eight Nine. Ten ... Eleven. Twelve . Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen ... Total Lodgers ....• Total population . . . . . Average size real family. . . . . . . . . A verage size of family, including single lodgers . Average size of census family·. . . . I ~umber Per Cent ofl Different IMembers of Size o.f. Families. Families. Farni lies. --171 7.0 171 1,031 42.2 2,062 47° I} 1,410 327 44·3 1,308 183 915 106 636 76 II 532 28 11 5.8 224 2S 225 13 13° 2 '1 22 4 I ~ 48 3 0·7 39 I IJ 14 I IS I ---2 ,44[ 100 7,75 1 1,924 ! 9,675 3·I~ 3.9 6 5·08 WitI1 the whole population of the ward included, the average size was about four, and counting married and 1 Families who were lodging-and there were many-were counted as families, not as lodgers. They were mostly young couples with one or no children. The lodgers were not counted with the families because of their large numbers, and the shifting of many of them from month to month. ( 164) Sect. 27.] TIle Size 0/ the Famtiy, single lodgers as part of the renting family, the average size is about five. 2 In any case the smallness of the families is remarkable, and is probably due to local causes in the ward, to the general situation in the city and to development in the race at large. TIle Seventh Ward is a ward of lodgers and casual sojourners; newly married couples settle down here until they are compelled, by the appearance of children, to move into homes of their own, and these in later years are being chosen in the Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and 'I'hirty-sixth wards, and uptown . Some couples leave their families in the S011th with grandmothers and live in lodgings here, returning to Virginia or Maryland only temporarily in summer or winter ; a good many men come here from elsewhere, live as lodgers and support families in the country; then, too, childless couples often work out, the woman at service and the man lodging in this ward; the woman joins her husband once or twice a week, but does not lodge regularly there, and so is not a resident of the ward; such are the local conditions that affect greatly the size of families. 3 The size of families in cities is nearly always smaller than elsewhere, and the Negro family follows this rule; late marriages among them undoubtedly act as a check to population; moreover, the economic stress is so great that only the small family can survive; the large families are either kept from coming to the city or move away, or, as is most common, send the breadwinners to the city while they stay in the country. It is of course but 2 This figure is obtained by dividing the total population of the ward by the number of homes directly rented, viz., 1675. There is an error here arising from the fact that some sub-renting families are really lodgers and should be counted with the census family, while others are partially separate families and some wholly separate. This error cannot be eliminated. 3 The excessive infant mortality also has its influence on the average size of families. Cf. Chapter X. Whether infanticide or fceticide is prevalent to any extent there are no means of knowing. Once in a while such a case finds its way to the courts. 17.208.72] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 15:19 GMT) 166 The Negro Fam£ly. [Chap. XI. conjecture to say how far these causes are working among the general Negro population of the country; but considering that the whole race has to-day begun its great battle for economic survival, and that few of the better class, male or female, can expect to get married early in life, it is fair to expect that for several decades to come the average size of the Negro family will decrease until economic well-being can keep pace with the demands of a rising standard of living; and that then we shall have...

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