27 This finding was first reported by Kenneth Lockridge in an unpublished paper presented to a conference on social history at Stony Brook, N.Y., in 1969. Lockridge discovered that New England’s spring peak in conceptions was less than half as high as in France, Sweden and Canada during the same era. Marriage rhythms were mixed. Rural towns showed a high peak in November, as in East Anglia; but in Boston there was little variation from month to month.