How young could you get away with marriage ?

[greyingrey]

This is another of those "how long is a piece of string" questions, but just want general ideas. One of my lot was baptised in 1816, married in 1829 & emigrated to the US (alone) in 1830. His nearest sibling (unless they had different fathers & it was covered up) was baptised in 1818, so we are talking about a child here & not an adult baptism.

Bearing in mind the usual reservations, from what age could you get away with being married or emigrating alone ? (his name is clearly quoted on the shipping lists, so, he wasn't posing as a son...nobody else with that surname... unless he was posing as a nephew/cousin etc)

[Olde Crone Holden]

14 was the legal age for marriage for males and I have to say that i have never heard of a male younger than 14 getting married.

He could have travelled alone to the USA at a younger age than 14 - but where would he get the fare money from? I think you have something wrong somewhere - two people of the same name?

OC

[Anne in Carlisle]

Maybe he wasn't a baby at baptism. Even a couple of years would make a big difference in early adulthood. (ie still a child baptism but not a baby.

If he married in 1829 what happened to his wife when he went to America? Have you been able to find out how old his wife appears to be at marriage?

Otherwise, as OC says, consider you may have another person of the same name. More common than you would think even with apparently rare names. In my family lots of cousins of around the same age have the same names! Nightmare sorting them out and sometimes not possible!

Anne

[Christine in Herts]

When my Errant Grandfather got married in Nov 1937, he was claiming to be 34 (b Mar 1887 !!), and she was claiming to be 19 (b Dec 1922 !!). The state where the marriage took place had recently enacted a law forbidding marriage below 16.

People don't always abide by the rules. Some marriages which don't conform to the rules are still upheld - but it probably depends upon the nature and degree of failure to conform.

Christine

[greyingrey]

No, I'm pretty sure it was the same person who went to America & I think he was specifically sent there by his father/stepfather. The family was Jewish & the person I'm looking at turned up in Apalachicola,which was the centre of the sponge trade for a few short years, & his father/stepfather living back in Nottingham started a business trading in sponges shortly after his son's/stepson's arrival. The trade was controlled by a Jewish immigrant named Bash, which just happened to be the name of the family living next door to his father/stepfather in Nottingham. There was also a young Mr Bash on the ship, so he may have travelled with him. The family was doing pretty well in business & the sponge trade was mainly maintained by immigrant East European Jews & specialist Greek divers (who had been world No 1 in sponges until this point)


His wife stayed behind & appears on the census living with her mother, working as a watchmaker. She eventually remarried & the couple emigrated to Australia where he became quite a well-known artist & she was an early feminist & they were famous for their bohemian lifestyle (I would say as an understatement that the first marriage was a mismatch...probably an attempt at a family alliance). The second marriage also broke up & she died in poverty.

[Olde Crone Holden]

He was Jewish but he was baptised and married C of E????? Are you sure?

OC

[PhotoFamily]

Did you look for a divorce by her?

[Olde Crone Holden]

If they were Jewish, then they could have easily divorced and that divorce would only be in the synagogue records. But if they wqere Jewish - why marry in a C of E church? It was not necessary, Jewish people have always been able to perform and record their own marriages.

OC

[PhotoFamily]

For him perhaps, but if I understand correctly, she was still in the US - what if she divorced him? Might be local records for it.