Four Generations: Population, Land, and Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts, 1630-1750

The data are drawn from 28 families who were the first permanent European settlers in Andover, Massachusetts, and their progeny for three generations, reconstituted by Philip J. Greven for his PhD dissertation, <em>Four Generations: A Study of Family Structure, Inheritance, and Mobility in Andover, Massachusetts, 1630-1750</em> (Harvard University, 1965). Greven used manuscript records of vital events, printed volumes of vital records, and published genealogies, supplemented with municipal and church records, gravestones, court records, and family records, following the methods developed in previous French and English work (e.g. Fleury, M. and L. Henry, <em>Nouveau manuel de dépouillement et d'exploitation de l'état civil ancient</em> (1965) and Wrigley, E.A, "Family Reconstitution," in E.A. Wrigley, ed. <em>An Introduction to English Historical Demography</em> (1966). Family reconstitution is a method for studying demographic behavior in the absence of modern censuses and vital registration, providing for both observation of demographic events as well as the population and time at risk. The data were collected to study population, land and the family for four generations in Andover, Massachusetts during the 17th and 18th centuries. The data include information on 455 marriages and 2,727 children, some of whom also appear as adults in the marriage records. The data on couples focus on demographic details for mothers and fathers, including birth, baptism, marriage, and death dates, and residence. The data on children include demographic information for the child, as well as their own marriages. Not all families have complete information. Greven's original Family Reconstitution Records were transcribed at ICPSR.