Hagskýrslur um manntöl - 01.01.1960, Blaðsíða 32

30
Manntalið 1703
tax-registers prepared by the commissioners at the same time. Leaning on such
knowledge Skúli Magnússon divided the whole population between farming only
and farming together with fishing (see Table 6 in Summary). On the other hand,
it was explicitly stated in the census if any person was engaged in other work, e.g.
public service. But nearly all of them were also farmers at the same time. The
occupations occurring in the census are enumerated in Table VIII B.
Households. One of the most interesting features of the census of 1703 is the
copious information it gives on the composition of households. In Table V the
whole population is distributed by position in tbe household. A summary of this
is in Table 7 on page 19. The total number of households in the whole country
in 1703 amounted to 8 191 with an average of 6,1 persons in each. But among
these households 567 consisted of one person only, and 2 of them, the episcopal
residences, greatly outnumbered all others, with between 70 and 80 persons each,pre-
sumably more or less corresponding to quasibouseholds nowadays. Excepting the
households consisting of only one person and tliese two large lxouseholds, tliere
remain 7 622 family households with an average of 6,5 persons. The composition
of the family households, compared with the present time, can be seen from the
summary on page 19, in which the average size of every component part of tlie
household is shown.
The last 2 classes in the summary are comprised of people wlxo in tlie census
in most places have not been distributed among the housebolds, but enumerated
separately in eacli parish. Nor do the vagrant beggars in reality belong to the
household. The paupers, on the other hand, were each assigned to a particular
household for a certain period. In 1950 there is nothing corresponding to these
2 classes. If there were some paupers in 1950, they have been tabulated
with boarders.
The average household in 1703, even after leaving out the paupers, contained
more people than the average household in the rural population in 1950 (5,6:5,1).
But its composition was essentially different. The family proper (the head of the
family with his dependents) was on the average smaller in 1703 (4,3:4,7 persons).
On the other hand, nonrelated servants were more tlian three times as numerous
in the average household in 1703.
In Table 8 in Summary is shown tbe distribution of the family households
in 1703 (without regard to paupers, who cannot be distributed by houseliold) by
size classes, compared witli 1950. The most common size was that of 4 persons and
the same was also the case in the rural population in 1950. That the average size
of households in 1703, after deduction of paupers, is still larger than in 1950 is
due to the fact that large households occurred more often. The largest family
household in 1950 contained only 17 persons, but in 1703 there were 30 family
households larger than that, the largest one having 39 persons.
The heads of families in 1703 may be divided into the following 4 classes:
(1) farmers on assessed farms, (2) farmers on outlying farms, (3) cottars and (4)
lodgers. The number of each class is stated on page 21, and the average size of
family households in each class, after deduction of paupers, on the same page.
Paupers. The total number of paupers in 1703, apportioned among the parishes’
households for a whole year or moving from household to bousebold, was 6 789
or 13,5 percent of the total population. This number, however, does not include
all persons wbo were chargeable to the parish. In the census it is often stated
that families maintaining separate households are receivers of parish relief. The