Abstract
Microdata samples of the 1871 and 1901 censuses of Canada document a significant shift in which residence with parents increased substantially among young children, while leaving home was increasingly likely among those in their late teens and in their twenties. There were striking rural-urban and regional differences in these patterns. Surprisingly large numbers of children and young adults living away attended school; others worked. Both were especially common in the still partially settled regions of the west. Religious and ethnic differences were muted. Multivariate analysis confirms the significance of schooling and working for living away from home. The normalization of familial child nurturing did not rapidly undermine informal practices of child fostering.
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