[LMB] Age at first marriage

[Jason Long]

I'm really not so sure that frontier women married as early as seems to be believed. I checked my genealogy database for my 1790s western Pennsylvania ancestors (as the closest match for the WGW) and found no marriage dates have survived unless I want to presume that they were married a year before their first child. So off to 1650s-60s Massaschusetts where my Wheeler, Cheney, Wise and Plumer families settled. Women's ages ranged, of the couple of dozen that were of a suitable age, from 17 to 27. I'd say the average was about 20 or slightly under, with only a single one at 17 and other singletons at 25 and up.

I suppose I could check 1630s Virginia, 1700s North Carolina or 1860s Texas as some of the other frontiers my relations have settled in to see if the trend persists if there's any interest.

Jason

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