ABSTRACT
Three attributes characterize all families: a cycle, a structure, and an economy. Families all pass through a sequence of stages from formation through dissolution; all are formed by a set of relationships between people with different roles and statuses; and all must acquire and allocate the means for their subsistence. Industrialization was spurred by a number of factors, including a conscious policy adopted by city leaders who believed that the weakness of an economy based solely upon trade had contributed to the devastating impact of the depression of the late 1850's upon the city. In Hamilton, of all the people who became widowed between 1861 and 1871, 72% were women and only 28% men. The family cycle begins with the formation of the family through marriage. The relation between family composition and property brings the author to the question of the family economy. The increasing differences between the fertility of ethnic groups arose from the group occupational or ethnic standing.
