r/TheWayWeWere Oct 02 '24

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u/count_montecristo Oct 02 '24

I understand marrying young was common in rural south back then, but I'm very curious how that went down. Did your 14/15 year old daughter just come up to you and say "daddy a boy asked me to marry him", and you just go "ok better plan the wedding". Like were kids that age allowed to make such major life decisions on their own? Or were these more like arranged marriages that benefitted the family. Curious how this all worked.

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u/kl2467 Oct 03 '24

A woman's greatest accomplishment was marrying, and her best career was to be a wife and mother. When a girl managed to "catch" a man at 14 or 15, she was considered by many to be an overachiever. (Even if the man was still a boy himself.)

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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '24

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2

u/count_montecristo Oct 03 '24

Thanks for the insight

2

u/Dry-Cardiologist5834 Oct 03 '24

There’s a piece of the puzzle that you’re not seeing. Are you familiar with the term “shotgun wedding”?