Geneva Demographic Database

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Introduction

Goal of the database is to collect date for research on precocious neo-Malthusian practices that coexisted with a traditional Malthusian system of late marriage and high level of final celibacy. The latter had their origins largely in migration flows that affected the matrimonial market and linked the labour market to a complex demographic system.

Shortname

GDD

IDS compatible

Period

1800 - 1880

Territory

Geneva, Switzerland

Contact information

Web Address

http://www.unige.ch/ses/demog/index.html

Location

Laboratoire de Démographie et d’Etudes familiales

Postal Address

Uni-Mail, 40 Pont d’Arve, 1211 Geneva 4

Contact Persons

Michel Oris

Michel.Oris@unige.ch

Scope / Status

Original goal

Sample definition

In all the sources, we selected the persons with a family name beginning by the letter B. In a second time, we linked the information present in the various files to reconstruct life courses.
As far as the censuses were concerned, we in fact took all the household members when one member (or the head or someone with a kin ties to the head) had a name beginning by the letter B.

Geographic area under observation

City of Geneva within the walls but for the marriages where the sample covers the whole “Canton and Republic of Geneva”.

Realized parts

Censuses have been entered and linked for the period 1816-1843, but we still have to progress on the components of population dynamics, especially migrations.

Sources

From year	End year	Source	Explanation
1816	1850	Civil birth certificates
1800	1880	Civil marriage certificates
1816	1850	Civil death certificates
1816	1843	Census
1800	1880	Genealogies (from more than one source)	Three generations genealogies have been reconstructed through the linkage of marriage acts at the level of the whole Geneva canton. But singles and immigrants are not included.
1837	1843	Immigration registers

Observations

Units of observation

Unit of observation	Explanation	Number
Individuals	Date of birth, origin, place of birth, occupations, religion, address.	35,592
Married couples	Date of marriage, parents names, occupation, origin, etc.	8,506
Households	With relationships on all people living inside the household.	10,723

Are there any related observations that are not included in the database?

Everyone in the household is included (including persons whose last names do not start with the letter “B”).

How do the units of observation enter observation?

By birth in the city of Geneva 1816-1850, or by presence at one census (1816, 1822, 1828, 1831, 1837, 1843).

How do the units of observation leave observation?

Death in the city of Geneva or absent at the next census (open interval after 1843).

Dates estimated

Most events between two censuses (marriage, widowhood, exit, etc.).

Are some entry or exit dates unknown?

Migrations dates and sometimes death. They can be approximated using the censuses.

Can observations be linked to geographic locations?

Yes

Are the dates and locations of movements within the observation area recorded?

Are all individuals who lived in the households of sample members recorded?

Yes

Variables

Events

Type	Dated	Explanation
Birth	Partly	Sometimes, there is only the age or years only.
Marriage	Yes
Death	Yes	The hospital for old people was outside the city; so probably underestimation of deaths at old age.
Migration	Partly	We started to collect passports, but this is not finished. But we systematically identified those who didn't die between two censuses and were no more present at the next census. More recently (2008), for a master thesis the alphabetical sample of the immigrants (“foreigners”, i.e. coming from outside the Geneva canton, including the other Swiss cantons) arriving between 1837 and 1843 has been taken. For most of them, during those years we have an event and a date of exit (departure, marriage with a Geneva citizen, stable residence, …). This file will be linked with 1837 & 1843 censuses.
Widowhood	Yes	Through direct observations and interpolations.

Coding / Reference systems

Occupational titles: More or less the Philadelphia Social History Project structure for the social status and a code of our own for activity branches. Marriage acts are also coded in Hisco and Hisclas.

Locations (including geo-referenced systems): Self-code on origin or birth place + a dictionary of Swiss places of origin with religious and linguistic identities.

For religion and civil status.

Code for streets and arrondissements within the city.

Laslett code of household type; a typology of solitude; a typology of sibling groups.

Kinship relations

Recording

Variable.

Depth of information

Sometimes 3 generations (experience on marriage certificates: see above).

Comparability

To the limits noted above (only “stable” families, i.e. those who married on the territory of the Geneva canton), yes since this is the result of linkages between marriage certificates whom the content was fixed by the law.

Publications

Publications - N/A

European Historical Population Samples Network

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