My grandma was 13 when she married my grandpa who was 20. They were married 45 years. My mother was 15 when she married my father who was 21. They were married for 30 years. My sister got married when she was 15. That was 1961. She just celebrated her 56th anniversary. My brother in law was 18 when they got married.
...”My grandma was 13 when she married my grandpa who was 20. They were married 45 years. My mother was 15 when she married my father who was 21. They were married for 30 years. My sister got married when she was 15. That was 1961. She just celebrated her 56th anniversary. My brother in law was 18 when they got married.”...
You are exactly right about Southern culture in the late 50s and 60s. I married at 19 and, at that, felt like an old Spinster because the majority of my friends were already married, some to older men. Quite a few married around their 16th and 17th birthdays in Southern States because few girls were expected or able to go to college. Those who did became nurses and teachers. A few girls ran away with their boyfriends to Oneida, TN, to get married if they were under 16. It was a different world during the time frame of the Washington Post story. Roy Moore, himself, was a young man. The central issue is whether or not the 16 year old was forced into a sexual situation and was she sexually abused. If we were to take today’s culture and superimpose it on what took place 40 years ago, the court cases would be never ending. While I would be aghast if my Granddaughter decided to get married at 19, for me, in those days, it was a wise decision because I married a great guy who has been my love now for 57 years. It has been a wonderful life with him and I am so glad for my own decision to marry at that time.