Abstract
How families choose to transfer resources to the next generation is shown to be determined by goals and priorities derived from ethnocultural values. Two ethnically distinct Illinois farm communities, one of German-Catholic, the other of Yankee descent, having similar soils and geographic characteristics were investigated with: (1) an ethnographic field study; and (2) probated court documents over the century since settlement. Despite Germans engaging in more estate planning than Yankees, current German farms are smaller and income is supplemented with off-farm work; Yankee farms are larger, diversified with animals and worked full-time. German-yeoman values gave farm and ownership continuity high priority and, combined with large families and little inherited liquid assets, tended to keep heirs in agriculture and fragment estates. Yankee-entrepreneurial priorities led to diversified investments, greater liquid assets, but, more importantly, declining family size and greater outmigration resulted in larger portions for heirs and fewer farmers. These contrasting familial patterns cumulatively evolved communities along different paths: yeoman-Germans were committed to a vital, integrated community; entrepreneurial-Yankee disinterest produced a declining bedroom community that lacks cohesion.
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