Estimating Childless Married Couples in Quebec: The Methodological Challenge of a Non-Event in Historical Demography

Pauline Hervois, Biodémo, UMR 7206 (Eco-anthropologie), MNHN

The exceptional fertility of early Quebec has been highlighted in a number of studies (Henripin, 1954; Charbonneau, 1987; Landry, 1989; Bideau et al., 1995; Larsen & Desjardins, 1997). The exceptionally high birth rate of French Canadians contributed to the creation of a "myth" (Henripin, 1994, 30). By favoring an approach based on "reproductive power" (Le Bras, 1981, 78-79) or average indicators (final offspring, total fertility rate), this research hid the diversity of family sizes (Brée, 2017) and made the existence of childless couples invisible. This paper presents the methodological challenge of identifying childless couples in Quebec parish registers over three centuries, from 1620 to 1920. Thanks to the reconstitution of families deployed in the Integrated Infrastructure of the Quebec Population Historical [IMPQ] Microdata, we can identify the associated births for each marriage. Our methodology therefore consists in identifying couples for whom no births are recorded. We would also like to use this approach to identify infertile married couples, infertile men and infertile women (individuals may have had an infertile union but have had a child in a union of a different rank). This paper will provide an opportunity to discuss several topics. Firstly, it will provide an evolution of the proportion of infertile couples in a non-malthusian population in Quebec over three centuries. It will also be an opportunity to discuss the strong interest (obsession?) of population sciences in fertility and the invisibility of those who have not procreated. Above all, it will be an excellent chance to debate researchers' trust in data, an indispensable attitude in this type of research, where individuals do not experience a demographic event (giving birth). Trust in the sources at the time the event took place (baptism, marriage and death certificates), and trust in the hands that restored these sources to the IMPQ microdata.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 8. Family Structure, Disruptions, and Outcomes