Aging Without Children in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Rural Estonia

Abstract

This article explores living arrangements and both informal and formal support for the elderly who had no surviving children in the Russian Baltic province of Livland from 1850 to 1905. The article examines with whom the elderly who had no spouse and descendants to rely on lived out their twilight years; whether there were differences between the farmers and farm laborers; the role of poor relief, and whether adoption served well to ensure upkeep in old age.