My Grandmother Ruby was born in 1884. She told me that back then there were no teenagers. Girls and boy were children until around fifteen years of age. Then they were expected to be grownups. She said teenagers were a more modern invention. The first time she heard of a young person being called a teenager was in the 1920’s. She graduated at age 16 the top in her class of five scholars in Pleasanton, Kansas. Her husband, my Grandfather Frank, graduated the next year at the old age of 17. They married when they were 18 years old. Her mother made her afternoon lavender gown. She told me that white wedding gowns had not been invented yet. Grandfather worked as a bank teller. Their first home was two rooms about her Papa’s mercandile.
In literature there are stories of many fourteen and fifteen year olds who go to work as secretaries in the city. They were all grown up with adult responsibilities.