19세기말 戶籍表로 본 平安南道 順川郡 戶의 구성

Abstract

This study is on the family register of Suncheon-gun County of Pyeongannam-do Province prepared in year 1897. Yongpo-myeon(township), Bongsoo-myeon and Wonha-myeon were the analysis object of this study; however, it is not possible to know their exact geographical locations now. The reason is that the administrative zones were greatly changed and there were many changes in the physical placenames within 10 years from the preparation of the family register. However, it was possible to carefully estimate by 2~3 placenames in different time spans that the object area of the Suncheon-gun County family register was located along the west riverside of Daedong-gang River, where Wonha-myeon, Yongpo-myeon, Bongsoo-myeon were located in sequence from south to north. The number of household and population recorded on the 1897 family register of Suncheon-gun County are 503 households and 1,471 persons. However, these figures are much less than actual numbers. According to the family register of Suncheon-gun County, there were 2.92 persons per household at the time; while there were 4.62~5.35 persons per household in the precision census in 1925. It is believed that about 2 persons per household were left out in the 1897 census. The gender ratio in the family register of Suncheon-gun County is 117.6. The reason is that 231 sons were recorded but only 4 daughters were recorded. The family register of Suncheon-gun County has many weak points in its basic parts such as number of household and average age. However, it is essential and useful information in recreating the scene of Suncheon-gun County in 1897; though it has some limitations in certain numbers. In 1897, there were a household-head group consisting of 106 family names and a married female group consisting of 183 family names in Wonha-myeon, Yongpo-myeon and Bongsoo-myeon. There were diverse family names, not mainly consisting of specific family names. Among the 19 villages in Suncheon-gun County with family register, only 1 village was single family name village. Considering that about one third of Korean village was same surname village at the time, Suncheon-gun County was very exceptional. The reason is that Wonha-myeon, Yongpo-myeon and Bongsoo-myeon were mostly flat and the area was a major traffic point; therefore, there was large floating population and the area had open propensity. More than 95% of the households in Suncheon-gun County consisted of direct line family members such as a household head, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and mother. 86% of local residents were farmers; while 11.8% were merchants. A house of a merchant was bigger than a house of a farmer by 1.2 rooms. There were 3 Confucian scholars, 4 physicians, 1 local government employee and 2 scholars. These upper class had houses which had average 6 or more rooms.