The Role of Brother-in-Law Ties in Chain Migration Among Young Men in the 1880 U.S.Population

Maryam Torkashvand, University of Iowa
Caglar Koylu, University of Iowa
Alice Bee Kasakoff, University of South Carolina

Kin proximity and chain migration have often been studied through dyadic relationships among biological kin members, such as parents and adult children. However, the spatial clustering of relatives is the outcome of a long-term process with the contribution of other relatives, including relatives by marriage. During the westward migration of American families to the frontier in the 19th century, extended family networks played an important role in shaping settlement patterns. Among these networks, brothers-in-law were particularly influential, often migrating together from their townships. Moreover, in the early stages of U.S. exaptation, adolescent sons who moved with their families to sparsely populated areas to help clear land faced a limited pool of potential spouses. This demographic constraint frequently resulted in multiple marriages between sibling sets, further strengthening kinship networks in the frontier. This study investigates how sibling and sibling-in-law relationships influenced migration patterns and settlement structures among young men in the U.S. in 1880. Using geocoded family trees at the county level, we reconstruct a spatial marriage network based on brother-brother-in-law relationships for men born between 1835 and 1862. This cohort, aged 18 to 45 in 1880, represents the prime working and family-forming population during this period. Each individual in this cohort is represented as a node, linked to his brothers and brothers-in-law through two types of edges. By analyzing the birth counties of these individuals and their children, we identify migration patterns and assess the role of extended kin in shaping spatial settlement structures. Unlike surname-based or purely biological approaches, which cannot capture marriage ties, our study uses genealogical sources to examine the influence of in-laws on migration and kin clustering in 19th-century America.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 71. Migration and Its Consequences: Networks, Fertility, and Labor