Historical Database of the Liège Region

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Introduction

Historical demography of the Liège region including studies of fertility, mortality, marriage and migration. Areas of special interest have been effects of early life conditions on adult mortality and the transition to low fertility.

Shortname

HDLR

IDS compatible

Period

1806 - 1900

Territory

Liège, Belgium

Category

Longitudinal

Contact information

Organisation

ICPSR & University of Geneva

Web Address

http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR32461.v1

Location

Indiana University & University of Geneva

Postal Address

George Alter, ICPSR, University of Michigan PO Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248 USA; Michel Oris, Institute of Demography and Socioeconomics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Genève, 54 route des Acacias, Ch-1227 Carouge

Contact Persons

George Alter

altergc@umich.edu

Michel Oris

Michel.Oris@unige.ch

Citation

Michel Oris, George Alter, Muriel Neven, Etienne Van der Straten, Historical Demographic Data Base of Liège Region.

Questionnaire
Download questionnaire
The questionnaire was submitted on 26 April 2015 by Michel Oris and George Alter.

Scope / Status

Original goal

Current status

The database was completed in 1986-2003, depending of the location. As explained above, some linkages are missing (in Seraing especially). Depending of our success in a few applications to EU we will combe back on the database, but they are already so much data to analyse that we do not plan further collection.

Sample definition

We include all persons in most of the communities in the database. The database for Verviers consists of all persons whose surname begins with “B” and anyone living in the household of a person in the sample.

Geographic area under observation

All data is collected by commune (an administrative unit) in the Province of Liège. Data has been collected on the communes of Bettincourt, Clermont, Charneux, Huy, Limbourg, Neufchateau, Polleur, Sart, Seraing, Tilleur, and Verviers. Samples differ in time period covered, and linkage over time is not complete in some samples.

Keywords

Population registers, migrations.

Sources

From year	End year	Source	Explanation	PDF
1806	1900	Civil birth certificates
1806	1900	Civil marriage certificates
1806	1900	Civil death certificates
1846	1900	Civil population registers		PDF
1806	1846	Nominative lists	Availability varies among communities.
		Tax registers	Availability varies among communities.
		Cadastre	Availability varies among communities.
		Military conscription lists	These lists include almost all males at age 19 or 20 with occupations and heights.

Collection procedure

• Data collection period: From 1986 until 2003. • Data collection method: Transcription. • The transcription was done: By individuals from the original sources. • How the checking of the transcription was done? - Regular checks during the transcriptions, many checks after and when creating analytical files. • When was it done? - 1986-2003. • Purpose of the transcription: Research. • Control methods by researcher: Yes, too many to be listed but indeed.

Observations

Units of observation

Unit of observation	Explanation	Number
Individuals	The Verviers sample only follows individuals.
Married couples	This is possible but linkage is by individual.
Families	This is possible but linkage is by individual.
Households	This is possible but linkage is by individual.

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

In Verviers, where we have taken a letter sample, we include all persons in the household of a person in the sample. Other samples are complete within geographic areas. Some samples include vital registers (marriages, deaths) with information on parents, who may have been deceased at the time the information was recorded.

How do the units of observation enter observation?

Observation begins in three ways: 1. a record in a nominative list, usually derived from a census. 2. birth 3. migration into the commune

How do the units of observation leave observation?

1. Death; 2. Out-migration; 3. Censored by the end of the last population register in a series.

Dates estimated

When an exit date is not available, we can identify the interval in which the exit occurred, because of regular censuses.

Are some entry or exit dates unknown?

About 10 to 30 percent of life histories end without an explicit date of exit. We can usually verify that out-migration occurred by checking the next population register.

Can observations be linked to geographic locations?

Yes

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

Partly

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

Yes

Linkage

• Which sources and units of observation have been linked: Births/Baptisms – P; Marriages – P; Deaths/Burials – P; Population registers –Y; Census – N; Nominative lists –Y; Tax lists – P; Military conscription lists – P. • Documentation of linking: Programme, manually - Program for perfect match, semi-manual for the remaining cases and manual for the few remaining ones. • What are the rules for linking? - On stable items like name, given name(s), age or date of birth and the place of birth when available. Linkage is often confirmed by using family ties. For example, marriage registers, which include names of spouses and their parents, are used to confirm links between pre- and post-marriage households. • How each reconstructed person is traceable to the original sources /transcribed data? - The identification number (ID) is the year of opening of the population register, then the volume number, then the page, then the number of the household on the page, then the number of the individual in the household. It is consequently easy to come back to the original sources in case. • How is linkage represented in the database? - We link the records from population registers by linking each record to the next (in time) record for the same person. Thus, each linked record has a record ID and the ID of the next record, if it has been linked. We consider the first ID in a sequence to be a universal identification number for a person. Other types of records (births, deaths, marriages, taxes, etc.) are linked to an ID in a population register. • Linkage percentage - 80-95%. • Quality of linkage (own evaluation) - Very good. • What reference/coding systems have been linked to the data? - Just for the places of birth, outmigration, immigration, etc. to the list of Belgian municipalities.

Variables

Events

Type	Dated	Explanation
Birth	Yes
Marriage	Yes
Death	Yes
Migration	Yes
Change of address	Partly

Variables

Gender, age or date of birth, relation to the household head, occupation (not continuous, only at the time of the census or a peculiar event), migration. Dates of death or marriage are available when the event took place in the locality. Data are structured by household and by individual within household.

Coding / Reference systems

Locations (including geo-referenced systems): We have a list of locations in Belgium with X&Y coordinates (it is named Lambert coordinates).

Data representation

None of our software is designed for use by others.

Kinship relations

Recording

Most of our population registers do not record kinship, but they often provide useful information. For example, widows are often listed with both maiden name and surname of deceased spouse. We can determine kinship from birth, death, and marriage records.

Depth of information

This varies by duration of the population registers. In Sart, where the population registers begin in 1812 and end in 1899, we have 259 pairs of a child with a great-great-grandparent, and 20 pairs of a child with a great-great-great-grandparent.

Publications

1. Main publications about the database itself

Alter, G., & Oris, M. (2005). Childhood Conditions, Migration, and Mortality: Migrants and Natives in Nineteenth-century Cities. Social Biology, 52(3-4), 178-191.
Alter, G., Oris, M., & Neven, M. (2007). When Protoindustry Collapsed. Fertility and the Demographic Regime in Rural Eastern Belgium during the Industrial Revolution. Historical Social Research, 32(2), 137-159.
Neven, M. (2003). Individus et familles: les dynamiques d’une société rurale. Le Pays de Herve dans la seconde moitié du 19e siècle (530 pp). Genève: Droz.
Oris, M., Alter, G., & Servais, P. (2014). Prudence as Obstinate Resistance to Pressure. Marriage in 19th Century Rural East Belgium. In C. Lundh, & S. Kurosu, Similarity in difference. Marriage in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900 (pp. 255-287). Harvard: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

2. Main or exemplary publications on research based on the database

Creighton, M., Matthys, C., & Quaranta, L. (2012). Migrants and the Diffusion of Low Marital Fertility in Belgium. Journal of Interdisciplinary History Spring, 42(4), 593–614.
Van de Putte, B., Poppel, F. van, Vanassche, S. Sanchez, M., Jidkova, S., Eeckhaut, M., Oris, M., & Matthijs, K. (2009, December). The rise of age homogamy in 19th century Western Europe. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71, 1234-1253.
Leeuwen, M. van, & Maas, I. (2005). Total and Relative Endogamy by Social Origin: A First International Comparison of Changes in Marriage Choices during the Nineteenth Century’. International Review of Social History, 50, 275-295.

European Historical Population Samples Network

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