The information I have says that very existance of the extended family was something of a myth.

Even in the peak years of the early 1900s, the highest percent of families living in extended families was 25% and even that was only found among recent emigrants.

When I was talking about the tradional nuclear family not being common, I meant that at the time the country was founded there where far higher percentages of both people that never got married and people who had one or more parents die before they reached 20.

In 17th century Virgina, for instance, more then 1/3 of children lost both parents.

Jay