Inheritance and Family Life in Colonial New York City

David Narrett

ISBN 10: 0801477190 / ISBN 13: 9780801477195

Published by Cornell University Press Apr 2011, 2011

About this Item

Neuware - David E. Narrett is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas Arlington.

Seller Inventory # 9780801477195

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Inheritance and Family Life in Colonial New York City
• Publisher: Cornell University Press Apr 2011
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801477190
• ISBN 13: 9780801477195
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 19D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 454 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This book breaks new ground by offering the first detailed and systematic analysis of inheritance practices in New York City from the beginning of Dutch settlement in the 1620s to the onset of the American Revolution. By analyzing a broad range of original sources―including more than 2,300 wills―David E. Narrett shows how the transmission of property at death reflected the distribution of power and authority within the family.

The author makes an especially important contribution to early New York history by explaining the Dutch origins of social and family customs, and by tracing the persistence of Dutch ways following the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664. He demonstrates that seventeenth-century Dutch law was particularly favorable to women since it sanctioned community property within marriage, the drafting of mutual wills by spouses, and the equal (or nearly equal) division of property among all children.

While the book maintains its comparative focus on the Dutch and English traditions, it also includes material on other ethnic groups (for example, French Huguenots and Jews) living in a pluralistic society. Narrett utilizes both Dutch and English language sources to examine such pertinent topics as the relationship between law and social custom, primogeniture, kinship and communal ties, charitable bequests, the manumission of slaves, and the literacy level of testators. Written in a clear and precise manner, the book includes many tables that will give readers immediate access to supporting data, and a conclusion establishes the relationship of Narrett's findings to relevant scholarship. A valuable addition to the literature on inheritance, this is a book whose conclusions and data will be mined by colonialists, legal historians, and historians of women and the family.

About the Author

David E. Narrett is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas Arlington.