| Conjugal condition | Families of each specified conjugal condition |
|---|---|
| Married couples | 729 |
| Widows or deserted wives | 127 |
| Widowers | 18 |
| Single men | 11 |
| Single women | 11 |
| Total | 896 |
The above 14 per cent of widows and deserted wives should be compared with the 31 per cent for the camp cottage group, and the 26 per cent of widows for the bonus group. A family to avail itself of this aid had to have resources of its own. The widows and deserted wives with children had with these 127 exceptions to be helped in other ways. In 143 instances, or 16 per cent of the total, the families had others living with them. There were 2,069 children in all the families, or 2.3 to each family. The number of children to an Italian family was 2.5; to an Irish family, 3.0; and to an American family, 1.9. In 689, or 77 per cent of the families, the domestic status, when visited, was the same as before the fire. The remaining 207 families, or 23 per cent, had been unable to maintain the same family relations. The separation or scattering of their members was attributed to the following causes:
In 82 families a death or deaths had occurred. The children from 40 families had left home to work or to attend school, adult members of 37 families went away to work or for other purposes, and children from 37 families married and left home. There were eight cases of divorce or desertion, and three cases in which the nature of the family’s change of status could not be determined.
It is not known to what extent the deaths in 82 families were caused indirectly by the disaster. There was but slight variation in the number of dependents carried before and after the fire. Some changes were due to loss of members of the family by death or marriage and the loss of earning power due to old age. The actual number of families in which there were no dependents had decreased in the fall of 1908 from 91 to 70.
Of the 896 applications, 161, or 18 per cent, were filed by the wife or some other woman member of the family. As in the other groups, the age of each applicant, but not of the members of his or her family, was obtained.
TABLE 86.—AGES OF APPLICANTS RECEIVING AID UNDER THE GRANT AND LOAN PLAN
| Age period | Applicants in each age period |
|---|---|
| Less than 30 years | 76 |
| 30 years and less than 40 years | 279 |
| 40 years and less than 50 years | 290 |
| 50 years and less than 60 years | 147 |
| 60 years and less than 70 years | 74 |
| 70 years and less than 80 years | 27 |
| 80 years and over | 3 |
| Total | 896 |
The majority of the applicants were in the prime of life, with small families whom they supported by their daily wages. Some of the comparatively small number—251 applicants—above fifty years of age were not able to work on full time.
Upon the question of the health of the families before the fire, during the period of camp life, and after moving into the new home, information was secured for 882 cases. Only 53 families reported a handicap due to ill health for the period before the fire, as compared with 356 who report ill health during the period of camp life, and 294 who report ill health after moving into the new home. It is probable that the estimate of 53 families handicapped by illness before the fire is too low.
It would appear from the above that an unduly large proportion suffered from illness during the two and one-half years following the disaster. The schedules state in many cases that sickness was due directly to the earthquake, the fire, and subsequent abnormal living conditions. It is impossible to state the number so handicapped as distinct from those whose illness had no connection with the catastrophe.