Social networks are considered the latest development in how humans interact with each other. This is, however, not correct as a social network is based on relationships and not electronic communication.
Before modernity social life was defined by kinship, which was mainly based on genetic connections between people. Kinship is, however more than a network of genetic relationships as it is predominately a social phenomenon and is in effect the language in which society is described. In pre-modern collective societies kinship defined the boundaries of society. Research has been undertaken to determine kinship boundaries for the Southern Dutch agricultural hamlet of Heugem, combining the 1796 census and local church records.1
In 1796 the hamlet consisted of 39 houses with 172 inhabitants, of which 54 below the age of 12. Almost 90% of the population was born in Heugem. Kinship relations have been been graphically displayed using p-graphs.2 The analysis shows a high level of interrelatedness within the community, with the priest as the only person without relatives. As such, a high correlation between geographic and kinship boundaries was found. At the one-generation level, the hamlet can be divided in several kinship clusters.
Kinship does, however, transcend death. When taking relationships with deceased family members into consideration almost the whole hamlet, excluding the priest who arrived from outside town, is connected through kinship relations. This research ads to the existing information on historical kin relations.
The results of this research will be presented at the XXXth Frontiers in Genealogy and Heraldry conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
- The research is currently being finalised, current status is collated in Dutch on www.prevos.net/heugem. [↩]
- Kinship has been analysed using Pajek, software for the analysis of large networks. [↩]





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