[LMB] Age at first marriage

[Paula Lieberman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Allums" <mark at allums.com>


> Raye Johnsen wrote:
>> --- Jason Long <sturmvogel_66 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I'm really not so sure that frontier women married
>>> as early as seems to be believed.
>
>> So I'd say frontier women married in their mid- to
>> late-teens, with girls marrying earlier to cement land
>> claims and/or keep them out of trouble (incidentally,
>> IIRC, Lizzie claims the second reason for herself).
>
> I am told that there was a frontier-era saying that the ideal ages for

I suspect that those were not generally followed, though....  for that 
matter, I know for a fact that the birthdates for my maternal grandparents 
on their graves are wrong!   They were probably about the same age, but my 
grandfather, who outlived his wife, felt that it wasn't proper that it 
should look like the husband wasn't older than the wife...

> bride and groom were thus:  The bride should be half the groom's age,
> plus seven years.
>
> Groom - 14
> Bride - 14
>
> Groom - 18
> Bride - 16
>
> Groom - 84
> Bride - 49