Free/Bargain Romances in May 2013

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by Blossom

So I guess the question is what age did a woman come of age back then in 1867?

Depending on country, they never did...

I seem to recall it being 21 in most European countries at that time though.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Depending on country, they never did...

I seem to recall it being 21 in most European countries at that time though.

I was referring to here in America. The book I am reading takes place after the Civil War.

[ScalyFreak]

I think it was still 21, but only if they weren't married at that point. Married women were legally minors, their husbands their legal guardian. (That's where the tradition of the bride's father giving her away to the groom comes from--passing her from one keeper to the next.)

I thought this would be easy to look up, but google was far too eager to talk about the actual Women's Rights Movement of the 1840's, and less about what the legal situation was like for women before then.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I'm still baffled. I realize this is a ARC copy so maybe the age is fixed in the final version. Now I relooked on the first page it says she cut 20 years of hair so I bet it's a misprint. So it would make more sense she is 20 not 26. I knew something was off.

So I guess the question is what age did a woman come of age back then in 1867?

I was curious and just had to look at a couple of google hits. I found the below information.

Spoiler:

According to "Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906: Summary, laws, foreign statistics" by US Bureau of Census, not all states/territories required or had a law for registration of marriage and, even then, did not always carefully track or record these. It mentions "adult unmarried population" that includes age 15 and over. Most of the writing concerns gathering data on the marriage and divorce rate, stats based on higher or lower amounts due to economic of the area/country, and I even saw trying to gather stats on whether alimony was granted and a separate section for if alimony was even asked for in a divorce.

The Effect of the Civil War on Southern Marriage Patterns - J. David Hacker, Libra Hilde, and James Holland Jones - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002115/

"Before examining the war’s effect on marriage patterns, it is important to understand the economic, demographic, and cultural context of marriage in the nineteenth-century United States. First of all, before they married, young couples were expected to acquire the economic resources to establish an independent household. The age of marriage, therefore, depended on real wages, inheritance, and the relative cost of purchasing land, farms, farm machinery, and homes. Although studies are few and subject to possible biases, most scholars agree that the ready availability of inexpensive land in colonial America made marriage feasible at an early age. As a result, marriages occurred several years earlier, on average, in colonial America than in Europe, and much higher proportions of the population eventually married. Community-based studies suggest an average age at marriage of about 20 years for women in the early colonial period and about 26 for men. As population densities increased and land prices rose in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American couples delayed marriage, and a higher proportion remained permanently unmarried. The published census figures for 1890, which are the earliest that permit estimates of age at marriage, reveal that the mean age at marriage was 23.8 for white women and 27.8 for white men—little different from those ages in England.12 This discussion demonstrates that the Civil War occurred in the midst of a long, gradual increase in the average age at marriage."

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by dreams

I was curious and just had to look at a couple of google hits. I found the below information.

I think it will help me understand the book better. Unlike old School historicals that usually included actual historical events and didn't leave you scratching your head these newer ones I guess they expect you to know all this already.

[dreams]

There was mention in that second reference that the Western US and frontier areas continued to marry at younger ages just like the early Colonial East coast did. So, I am thinking this was the age of 15 to a few years older, not counting some of the even younger Morman marriages at that time.

Plus, even though women may not be married by their 30's and are "spinsters", most did eventually marry when first wives died in childbirth and those husbands remarried to have a "woman" take care of them, their children, and homes.

[library addict]

Got an email from Merline Lovelace that she and her family are okay.

[auntykatkat]

Originally Posted by dreams

There was mention in that second reference that the Western US and frontier areas continued to marry at younger ages just like the early Colonial East coast did. So, I am thinking this was the age of 15 to a few years older, not counting some of the even younger Morman marriages at that time.

Plus, even though women may not be married by their 30's and are "spinsters", most did eventually marry when first wives died in childbirth and those husbands remarried to have a "woman" take care of them, their children, and homes.

Man, I missed a good conversation last night. And this is correct. I learned this at about age 11 when reading Little House on the Prarie. My mom had a "discussion" with me about the times and stuff. If you reached 20 you were a old maid. Considering that life expectancy was on average 40-50 years, I guess it was reasonable.

Many old historicals have the hero in his 30's and she is 17 to 20. Only a few I read had her any younger. I feel that was the publishers doing, even though if it is accurate they would be 15 to 18, they felt that they did not want to portray that. Hell, even those clinch covers never showed it right. The heroine was 18 and on the cover she looked 30! The popular book Skye O'Mally was married at 16. This was set in the Tudor era of England. She went through quite alot of husbands.

Now, after the civil war there was a big man shortage. It is hard to believe that we lost more men in the civil war that all our other wars combined. Women got older because there were fewer men. We also have the influx of immigrants into America starting soon after. Then the industrial phase started and we started to change our views on things.

[Blossom]

So here's what I have to ask. If 20 was underage? Could a Guy get in trouble for taking her across state lines? That just baffles me. The hero in the book is upset because he just took the heroine in his boat from LA to MS thinking she was a boy but finding out she was a underage girl of 20.

[Blue2u]

Repeat freebie by Connie Mason/Mia Marlowe - Lord of Devil Isle

[koland]

Originally Posted by Blossom

So here's what I have to ask. If 20 was underage? Could a Guy get in trouble for taking her across state lines? That just baffles me. The hero in the book is upset because he just took the heroine in his boat from LA to MS thinking she was a boy but finding out she was a underage girl of 20.

I'd suspect that even then, "underage" would be closer to under 18 (although some adult rights were tied to 21, then).

It's more likely he'd be upset that it was an unmarried girl (and many were much slighter in size than today, so passing for a teen boy might be a bit easier); it would not be at all unusual for a mid-teen boy to be on his own at that time (or even much later in time), but not usual at all for any unmarried female (esp. under 30).

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by koland

I'd suspect that even then, "underage" would be closer to under 18 (although some adult rights were tied to 21, then).

It's more likely he'd be upset that it was an unmarried girl (and many were much slighter in size than today, so passing for a teen boy might be a bit easier); it would not be at all unusual for a mid-teen boy to be on his own at that time (or even much later in time), but not usual at all for any unmarried female (esp. under 30).

You're probably right. I should just stay away from Historicals that are being published today. All the modern terminology confuses me.

[Blossom]

Free @ Amazon

A new batch of freebies from The Wild Rose Press!

Sea of Christmas Miracles by Christine Dorsey
(Blackstone Men of the Sea, Charleston Series)
Note: Always happy to get her books for free!

Unruly Hearts by Adrianne Wood
A Simon & Schuster author

Letters From Another Town by Barbara Bartholomew
A Time Travel Romance
(Lavender, Texas Trilogy)

Head To Head (Claire Morgan) by Linda Ladd

Florida Knight by Blair Bancroft

The Lady Series by Denise Domning
Two Books for the Price of One

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by library addict

Got an email from Merline Lovelace that she and her family are okay.

So good to hear that! Not going to watch the news today. Nope I need to recharge.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by auntykatkat

Oh, and hopefully this week will be the week that Laura Kinsale's The Prince of Midnight is released. I have been saving a credit just for that release since listening to a sample at Audiogals blog. The narrarator's voice just matches the story and was picked by Laura herself. To anyone who wants to listen here is the link.

It's out now at Audible. I wont be getting it though. It's narrated by a guy. I can't listen a guy read romance unless it's a two part team where a girl does the girl voices and a guy does the guys voices like in the audiobook of Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie.