Between generations and across borders: Living arrangements of the elderly and their children in Victorian Canada and the United State

This dissertation examines the living arrangements of the elderly and their children in Victorian Canada and the United States. A comparative work, this study contrasts the processes of inter-generational co-residence north and south of the border. It is based on a fully integrated set of census data from 1871 Canada and the United States in 1880, and offers the first truly consistent international comparison of nineteenth-century household structure. The dissertation demonstrates that the Canadian elderly lived with children to a significantly greater extent than did their aged American counterparts. Conversely, the American elderly resided with unrelated persons in greater numbers than did the Canadian aged. These disparities were directly related to differences in the timing of Canadian and American sons' and daughters' departure from home. American youths left home and married about two years earlier than their Canadian counterparts did. Differences in the life course transitions of youths were in turn a product of distinct demographic and economic structures and similar gender norms north and south of the border. As with the quantitative findings described in this dissertation, qualitative research on inter-generational relationships inside and outside the household demonstrate that adult children needed the assistance of their elderly parents as much as their aging seniors needed them. More importantly, documentary evidence on ties with parents, children, siblings, friends and neighbours demonstrate the important role played by proximity in sustaining close, supportive relationships. This evidence confirms the importance of studying co-residence patterns within the household. It also suggests that collective emotional differences between Canadian and American families resulted from structural differences in their living arrangements.