JPK Huson 1863
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2012
- Location
- Central Pennsylvania
Traditional ways of carrying off one's bride varied! This NYPL era image, a Russian wedding whereby groomsmen galloped off after the galloping-off couple, pretending to harass the groom who was pretending to have swiped his bride seems exhausting. But kinda fun. More sedate? Placing a classified advertisement in the local newspaper. Less exhausting.
Perhaps not so crazy? Think about it. There was limited scope, in the era, for a young man desirous of meeting a prospective bride. Church communities were extremely strong and various social groups can be seen, meeting on a regular basis. Still. Inside one's sometimes limited, daily boundaries, perhaps She did not exist?
Pre-war, you note there's a ' Matrimonial ' section, by mid 1850's
When still other classified ads in Godey's, Harpers and Leslie's offered entire books all about how to attract husbands, somewhere existed young folks, who very much wished an introduction.
"..... but rather diffident ", isn't he dear? 1865
Found a good number pre-war, some during ' our ' years, a scam or three and massive disapproval on the part of more than a few editorials. Still, as one endearing young man simply states " .... lack of conversational powers, arising from bashfulness " , it can be supposed his loneliness was stronger than his fear of censure. Don't you just hope a like-minded young lady began a correspondence? Perhaps they one day lived a bashful, quiet life together, in sweet seclusion.
Here is our bashful young man, for whom we wish a happy future! Poor guy- note the slightly defensive sentence? There were some sneers in print over these.
One from the UK, illustrating a world wide call to the altar.
' Commence correspondence ', not pack up and leave. Had a thread on a trooper whose post war wedding was due to his letters becoming a romance- daughter published them after her parents died. Most wonderful letters and proudest daughter you'll ever see.
Again- ' approve ', the disclaimer. Hope it went well.
Found several of these between 1861 and 1865- love them!
' Fair competency '- he is saying he can support a wife and family. In a day when women's work was so poorly paid, it was awfully important.