^-'^M'-V..:- X HA kS CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 'AN 'MnaojAt < •»"rso»iaaacnAV9l uaoNiaia-iHdvyvdl ■LNnOWVlAVS [ FIRST REPORT LEGISLATURE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, HKI.ATING TO TIIK IlICGISTUV AKD liLTLT.N OK BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, I DEATHS IN TIIF. STATE FOR THE YEAH ENDING MARCH 31, 1880, SECJiETAPvY OV STATE. Cornell University Library HA514 .A5 First report to the Legislature of New H -^(ff- 3 1924 030 508 430 ,, . _1 ohn m }v MANCHESTER: JOHN B. CLARICE, PUBLIC PRINTER. l88l. Sfl Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030508430 FIRST REPORT LEGISLATUKE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, RELxVTING TO THE REGISTRY AJJD RETURN OF BIETHS, MAKRIAGES,! DEATHS IX THE STATE FOR THE YFAW ENDING MARCH 31, 1880, SECRETARY OF STATE. MANCHESTER: JOHN E. CLARKE, PUBLIC PRINTER. 1881. t-J REPOET KELATINO TO BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS. To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives . In 1866, the legislature enacted a law requiring the secretary of state annually to " make and publish a general abstract and report " of the returns of births, marriages, and deaths made to his office by city and town clerks. No such abstract and report has ever been made. The returns have been so incomplete — some towns sending none, and those that did send only send- ing partial ones — that former secretaries have not felt that they would be justified in incurring the expense o£ making and pub- lishing an abstract, which, on account of its incompleteness, would be of no value whatever. Believing in the great importance of such a report, if it could be made full and accurate, I have made special efforts by circu- lars to physicians, clergymen, town clerks, and selectmen, and in other ways, to induce them to make such records and returns as they are by law required to make. My efforts, I regret to say, have not been crowned with complete success, but there has been a marked improvement in the number and accuracy of the returns. Table I. exhibits, in connection with the population according to the United States census for 1880, the number of births, mar- riages, and deaths registered in and returned from the several towns and cities in New Hampshire, for the year ended March 30, 1880. From the following towns no returns have been received for that year : In Rockingham county, Danville ; in Strafford county, Dover, Lee, Middleton, and Milton ; in Carroll county, Albany, Chatham, Freedom, Jackson, and Tamworth ; in Hillsborough county, Litchfield, and Windsor ; in Cheshire county, Hinsdale, and Winchester ; in Grafton county, Benton, Haverhill, Lincoln, Livermore, and Waterville ; in Coos county, Berlin, Dalton , Randolph, and Shelburne. The following towns made returns of marriages only : Bartlett, Charlestown, Durham, Errol, Lempster, Pittsburg, and Stratford. For the purpose of furnishing a standard of comparison by which to test the value of the statistics given in Table i, I give below the ratio of births, marriages, and deaths to one thousand of population, taken from the Massachusetts registra- tion report for 1879. Births, . . . 23.46 to 1,000 of population. Marriages (couples), 8.04 " " Deaths, . • . 18.52 Below will also be found a table exhibiting the average annual rates, per one thousand of population, of births, marriages, and deaths, in nine nations of Europe, taken from the thirty-seventh annual report of the Registrar- General of Great Britain for 1876. Births. Persons Married. Deaths. COUHTEIES. In the years. (Ml) J. 2 ^^ In the years. < In the years. 1873. 1874. 1873. 1874. 1873. 1874. England and Wales 34.8 31.6 32.0 40.2 37.7 .34.3 26.1 37.2 37.4 35.5 30.7 30.8 40.3 39.7 36.0 26.1 36.3 36.2 30.8 30.9 40.1 40.1 36.1 26.2 34.9 16.9 15.9 14.1 17.3 17.1 16.9 15.9 15.1 15.4 17.6 16.2 14.6 18.5 20.3 17.0 17.7 15.8 17.1 16.4 14.6 17.9 19.4 16.6 16.5 15.2 22.4 20.3 20.4 31.9 27.2 26.7 24.4 29.7 30.2 21.1 18.6 17.2 38.5 28.0 24.0 23.3 30.0 22.3 19.9 Sweden 20.3 31.3 26.8 The Netherlands 22.6 21.6 Spain Italy 30.3 Taking the Massachusetts rates as a standard, we should have had registered and returned in this State for the year cov- ered by this report, 8,570 births, instead of 4,249, the number returned, and 6,627 deaths, instead of 3,829, the number returned. If this is a correct standard of comparison, it thus appears that less than one-half the number of births and a little more than one-half the number of deaths that actually took place in this State for the year ended March 31, i88o, were registered. But there is reason to believe that more births and deaths were registered in that than in any previous year. The number of marriages that should have been solemnized, according to the Massachusetts ratio, is 2,706 ; the number actu- ally registered and returned is 2,629, a difference of only 77. If any deduction can properly be made from these figures, it is, that clergymen take more pains to record and report marriages than do physicians to record and report births and deaths. The practical question which it is the object of this report to submit to the consideration of the legislature is, how to supply the statistics that selectmen and physicians fail to return to city and town clerks. Selectmen fail to ascertain the statistics of births and deaths when they take the inventory in April annu- ally ; physicians neglect to report to selectmen the births and deaths of which they have knowledge professionally ; and, if town clerks make returns to the secretary of state, they must necessarily be very incomplete, as their reports are made up of statistics furnished them by selectmen and physicians. The principal defect in the law is its omission to provide for supplying these deficiencies. City and town clerks should be authorized to collect all vital statistics not reported to them by those who are by law required to do so. In most of the towns in this State an event like a birth, marriage, or death soon be- comes generally known, and the town clerk, if paid for his pains, would have some inducement to ascertain the necessary facts and make a record of them. In those States that are able to publish registration reports of any value, officers specially desig- nated for that purpose are induced to hunt up these statistics by the offer of a liberal fee for such services. Some such pro- vision in our law would, I am confident, after a very few trials. secure full and accurate returns from all the towns and cities in the State; and, with that end in view, I would respectfully recommend that the clerk of each city and town, for performing the duties required of him by section 5 of chapter 181 of the General Laws be paid by the city or town as follows : for receiving, recording, and returning the facts relating to each marriage, fifteen cents ; each birth and each death, twenty-five cents j and for obtaining, recording, and returning the facts relating to each birth, marriage, and death which have not been reported to him by selectmen, clergymen, and physicians, fifty cents ; provided, that any city may limit the aggregate compen- sation of its clerk. This is substantially the law of Massachu- setts, and is the result of the observation and experience of men who have given to the subject of social and vital statistics, and the best methods of collecting and preserving them, their best thought, stimulated by an intelligent appreciation of their value and a love for the work. If the legislature in its wisdom shall not see fit to amend the law as suggested, or in some better way, I recommend that that provision of the law requiring city and town clerks to make returns to the secretary of state, and that requiring the secre- tary to make a report annually, be repealed. Respectfully submitted. A. B. THOMPSON, Secretary of State. TABLE I. Population of 1880, births, marriages, and deaths for the year ended March 31, 1880, by counties. Counties. Population of 1880. Births. Marriages. Deaths. 49,062 35,559 17,948 18,222 46,293 75,633 28 734 733 322 215 163 628 840 255 245 584 274 310 255 108 136 330 752 195 134 274 135 627 184 Strafford Belknap Carroll Merrimack Hillsborough Cheshire 147 107 595 1,203 240 Sullivan 18,161 38,790 190 Coos 18,580 107 346,982 4,249 2,629 S . ON ■B8[dno3 ^fi<' >' t-j bfl ti &. B sill i^ lip II rill 5IZiS ^ : ; : ! t- lO CO (M (M CO eO "* OO TlH o «3 1-1 y-l 1-1 • ■ S3 : a : jc^ C5 C^i-1 « ca Tj( o (M i-i ■lr-t-Tl<0»0 OSOlO«3COCOiM(NCOiH t- t- tH r-l "-i il f- o : : O ; -1 ; '.tc g^S'- s t-i-ifMeoiOi-iOoocot-eo t- »0 00 00 IQ iH »0 «0 tH lO ^ ^»H iM OlOi-ieQ»OCOCOO£Ot-lM 1-1 04 CO tH l>lOCOmt-t-OCO-*03 C^ t-rHr-tCq CO r-, g^ s '■■ :ig cq ' -1 O O id CO rH IQ *omcog*ggc-ot- 9,690 1,063 1,111 1,809 600 1,745 383 829 720 695 35,659 1,497 ll,C87 962 3,044 716 397 355 1,516 772 5,785 1,712 5,586 1,531 117,948 1,476 1,296 1,226 621 2,821 1,486 3,790 1,800 1,069 1,192 1,282 1i ; Hi ■ ^4 III us Windham Strafford Couhty . . . i- it. 3i« New Durham Rochester RoUinsford Somersworth i I § Alton Barnatead Belmont Center Harbor Gilford '.. 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