The era that was seventeenth century colonial America was very different from
today's times. The society that existed at that time had very different views on life and
how it should occur. The daily routines were very unlike ours even tough it may be hard
to believe. Even families, which seem to be a non-changing faction in history, were also
distinct in size and order. (Thomas XIII)
John Demos commented that "the colonial family was 'extended' rather than
nuclear. False." John Demos, who in a study of Bristol , Rhode Island, came up with
conclusions about family life in early America that contradicted ideas previously accepted
An extended family includes the core group of males which are a grandfather,
adult sons and sons' sons, their wives, and their unmarried daughters. (Brooks 27)
Demos's idea is basically this one. The house in the colonial times shaped the home.
What he means by this is that you could not have an extended family that included
servants, apprentices, and other non-kinfolk in a house that measured twenty feet by
twenty feet and rose only a story and a half. Even if you added another room, you would
only have enough livable space for a nuclear family which consisted of parents and
children. This was due to the high number of children in a family. The average number
was about seven to ten. Some far exceeded that, others barely managed having two or
three. (Hawke, 58-59).
In the early colonial families, every member had a different "job." The
head of the family was mostly the father. He presided over family prayers
and worked on the family farm. Mothers usually raised the children, acted as
midwives to other women in town, and tended to household chores. (Walker 86).
Up until about the age eight, boys and girls wore the same thing. They
only wore wool or linen...