The Whittaker Saga - 1950s (updated 18/02)

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.