The family in Laško in the pre-march era

Abstract

The article presents the family in the town of Laško in the pre-March era on the basis of data obtained from the church civil-status registers of the Laško diocese for the years 1814- 1848. In the pre-March period, Laško was one of the larger market towns; however, owing to its poor traffic connections, it experienced poor economic development. Consequently, the market mostly had small craftsmen who supplemented their shops with agriculture for their own needs. Its small size (545 inhabitants) made Laško demographically unsustainable, which is why 72% of all married couples featured one partner from outside the town. Grooms who married women from Laško were craftsmen from near and far, while brides mostly came from the surrounding rural area. The young couple usually moved into their own home and thus did not live with the parents. It was only later, once the parents died, that the young family moved back to the house in which the husband was born. On average, families had five children. Children were baptized immediately after birth. Careful selection ensured that their godfathers enjoyed a social position equal to that of the child’s parents. Death was common in the family, in particular among infants, only about half of whom lived to adulthood. The average life expectancy was 50 years, so that most children succeeded their father at the age of 20-30.