Long-Term Trends and Spatial Differentials in Fertility in the United States, 1835-1940

J. David Hacker, University of Minnesota
Jonas Helgertz, University of Minnesota/Lund University

We use Own-Child Methods (OCM), new county-level estimates of child mortality (Hacker and Helgertz 2025), and full-count IPUMS datasets to construct new estimates of white and black fertility at the county, state, and region levels between 1835 and 1940. In addition to total fertility rates, we estimate total marital fertility rates, indices of fertility, marriage, and marital fertility developed for the Europe Fertility Project--I(f), I(m), and I(g)--and Coale and Trussell’s M and m parameters summarizing age-specific deviations from the Hutterite pattern of “natural” fertility. Finally, we describe a public-use dataset based on the results. The estimates represent the most comprehensive summary of the historical fertility transition in the United States yet assembled.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 212. Using IPUMS Full Count Data: Spatial Dimensions in Historical Data