Historical Dating or Building a Nation?
Mail Order Brides is a frequent theme in fiction these days. I had always wondered why women gave up their lives to travel across the country to marry someone they had never met. It seemed an extreme thing to do. But what we imagine, from our modern-day mindset, and what really happened are not always the same.
When I began my research for Marianne, I was surprised to learn the important role that mail order marriages played in the building of the United States as a country. With the Civil War leaving a dearth of men in the east and the lack of women in the west, a whole industry grew up.
Much like the modern online dating, these were men and women who put ads in papers and usually wrote letters to each other before entering into any contracts.
Most of the marriages started out looking for companionship, legacy and survival. Not all prospective couples married, some marriages did not last long. But others lasted for fifty years and more. Friendship was bedrock. Love was defined more on the Biblical commitments of love. It took sturdy spirits and sturdy love to overcome the obstacles they had to endure in a time when making a living took determination.
I admire them. They forged an inheritance for us who came after them.
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