An analysis of criminal proceedings & death records for early modern Geneva reveals an explosion in suicides after 1750. New attitudes toward courtship, marriage, & the family contributed to the dramatic increase, as unprecedented numbers of people took their lives because of family concerns such as marital breakdown, unhappy love stories, & deaths of family members. Greater interest in the companionable marriage was central to these changes. After 1750, marriage, even more than parenthood, offered immunity to suicide, as married people were underrepresented among those who took their lives. Although men constituted the large majority of suicides, women & men shared the growing emphasis on conjugal sentiment, which cut across class lines. (68 notes)