Ugly Stats from the 1790s and a Tribute to Moms

The first U.S. Census, taken in 1790 as required by the Constitution, tells us a lot. One, there were 558,000 households in the 13 original states. Of those, 35.8% had seven or more individuals – children or adults. Another 13.2% had six, 13.9% had five, 13.8% had four, 11.7% had three, 7.8% had two, and only 3.7% were living alone.

The average life expectancy was between 30 and 40 years. Infant mortality rates skewed the life expectancy data, but the reality of the 1790s was that a family needed many children so that some would survive. Hence, one had large families.

The ugly reality was that most children didn’t make it to five! Yes, five. Newborns faced a gauntlet of childhood diseases – tetanus, typhoid, smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, whooping cough, measles, tuberculosis, and the flu – the chances were good they would live a long life.

There’s another factor at play. Data shows that between one and 1.7% of the mothers died in childbirth. Contrast this with the data from 2024, during which, out of every 100,000 births, 17.7 mothers died, or 0.017%, which is a far cry from 1.7%.

So, what happens if in the 1790s, the mother dies and the baby survives?  The baby bottle with a rubber nipple wasn’t patented until 1845, and baby formulas like Enfamil were still a long way off.

How does the baby get fed? Hopefully, you knew a woman who is still lactating. If it is a family member, great; if not, the source of the baby’s milk was either a servant who was still producing milk, or you paid a woman known as a wet nurse. The last resort was goat milk, which was preferred over sheep or cow milk.

In the 1790s, the U.S. population was mostly on farms. We had cities, but they were, in reality, small towns. The census tells us that New York was the largest with 31,131 residents, next was Philadelphia with 28,522, followed by  Boston with 18,320, and Charleston with 16,359.

Most of the other locales we now call cities – Savannah, Baltimore, New Haven, etc. were really large towns with just a few thousand folks. The balance of the 3,929,214 (including slaves) lived on farms.

If one lived on a farm and didn’t own slaves, children had another purpose – labor. As soon as they were able, children were given chores and soon walked behind plow horses or chopped down trees to clear land and produce firewood and logs for buildings.

Between disease and farm accidents, a large family was needed to survive. And in the center of all of it was Mom, the family doctor, nurturer, and teacher. When Dad wasn’t around, Mom was the head of the household and the president of the family business.

Happy Mother’s Day. Without Moms, none of us would be around!!!

1798 Ralph Earl painting of Mrs. Noah Smith of VT and her five children.