Families in Ireland in the 1700s and 1800s inherited by a method called the "stem family system" in which only one child inherited control of the families holding. Since most Irish Catholic families were large and most of the plots of land were too small to be divided among all of the male offspring or the businesses too small to support many people, one son or daughter inherited the right to the land or the business and the other children were forced to life a celibate life at home helping on the family property, take a menial job with very little hope of ever getting a piece of land, or emigrate.

When there were too many adult mouths to feed and not enough land to feed them the immediate family and relatives paid to send the younger family members abroad, most frequently to America. Because of this system, the Irish were emigrating to England, America, and Australia long before and long after the famine.

Because the Irish Catholic could not "own" the land* the stem system in Ireland involved one son or daughter inheriting the right to rent a certain parcel of land from an English overlord. It was, however, not necessarily the oldest son who inherited "the farm". The parents needed to maintain control, for their own livelihood and the support of younger children, so frequently it was the youngest son or daughter who was around long enough. The inheritance fell pretty much to whomever was still at home at the time the head of the family died or grew too old to work the land his/her self. It was not infrequent for widows to remain the heads of household even after their children had reached adulthood.

Most histories of Ireland say that generally one or two children in a large family married with the remaining siblings being forced to stay on the property as unmarried adult workers, to immigrant, or to go to the workhouse.

* In 1903 a new Land Act gave Irish tenant farmers the right to own land.