Until the end of the nineteenth century a system of live-in servants on farms was widespread in large parts of Europe. This practise played an important role in the life cycle of large numbers of rural inhabitants. In the relatively capitalistic agricultural clay son area of Groningen (The Netherlands), the breakdown of this system proved to be mainly Ihe result of a change in strategy within the live-in labour supplying families. Rising real wages facilitated a growing preference to keep family Iife and freedom for the children. In addition, it is argued that live-in servants, though earning a higher income, probably had worse prospects than those who stayed on in their parental home. After World War I the system of live-in servants almost completely disappeared because now richer farmers desired more privacy, keeping a maid only for domestic work.