The Whittaker Saga - 1950s (updated 18/02)
I was vastly inspired when reading the decades challenge, and as a history teacher, I could not stop myself from giving it a try. Of course, true to my nature or refusing to do things by the book, th...
Forum Discussion
Hi. I am not an Historian, by any means. I am a Genealogist. My heart is still in the 18th century where the most interesting of my Ancestors lived. I have since learned that the idea of being in love, first, before marrying was a 19th century thing. 18th century marriages were more like business contracts. Love, if it happened was an added bonus. What's also curious is that women of the 19th century started refusing to marry, not just for love's sake, but for the fact they could fare better financially than their married counterparts. A married woman in the 18th century wasn't allowed to own her own business or land. She was completely dependent on her husband.
I'm not surprised you chose a single female. Play the challenge the way it suits you. You'll have more fun.
You're right, there are so many things that are curious about older times, and as a history teacher I'm not really surprised by the many misconceptions that make out the "rules" of this challenge. The idea that women couldn't live alone, have a job, that wall papers didn't exist, that all young men went off to war and only half of them came back... there are so many ideas that just is popular ideas but not rooted in reality. Even as a history teacher playing this has given me some surprises, with some things being far earlier than I thought and others being later. I think what surprised me the most was that women hasn't steadily been getting older before marriage, but that they married at an ever younger age until the 1950s, and only since the 1960s did that change. And while I was perfectly aware of women like Abigail, living alone and supporting themselves were a thing, I did not know that over 25% of women never married in the 1890s. That's every fourth woman.
Although I will challenge you on the love part, because it's a simplification. Ever since stories started being written down (and most likely well before then) stories of romantic love has been among the most popular stories around. So at least the notion of being in love before marriage was around, even if it wasn't a reality in most people's lives. Interesting enough, many of the love stories of old, are centered around unhappily married people falling in love with something else - perhaps an illustration of problems of the day.
I was just happy to learn that my six times great-grandparents, who married at ages 15 and he just 16 years of age, were truly in love. She was the force behind his success and the building of the man he became. Sadly, she passed away due to complications giving birth to their tenth child, and just a few years shy of him becoming the very first governor of Tennessee, a state he helped to form.
That's such a fantastic story! And tragic at the same time. I'm so happy I'm born in a time with working birth control. Such a game changer for women's lives and health.
