Genealogy Chat

Hi Gary,
I think at 15, she would have been regarded as a 'pupil teacher', ie more of a teacher's help than a teacher in her own right.
If the pair had married, then moved away from the area, by givng her age as 18, she could have taught in her own right.
By 1871, she has reached an age where she could comfortably call herself a teacher anyway.

maggie

Hi gary,

My grandfather was 35 in !922 on his second marriage to my grandma, her age was given as 20 infact she was only 16........he also stated he was a batchelor when infact he was a divorcee which I thought you would have to declare.........however they had 3 lovely kids one being my super dad.......sadly she died at 27 of TB. It just goes to show its not worth the paper its written on, as the saying goes.

They probably realised that the gap was still pretty large and perhaps thought they should fib about their ages.

My 2x great grandparents married in 1885 - it was his second marriage and he was 38 (39 later that year) and her first - she said she was 20 but she was actually 18.

Then on my partner's side something that made my skin crawl - marriage in 1810 in India between a man aged 41 and a 14 year old girl... they went on to have several children before his death in 1825 and then she remarried and died just 2 weeks after her 2nd marriage - her obituary reads 'Woe betide her descendants...' scary...

The pair ended up opening their own private school, although he died soon after, she remained, I know she taught music.
I Just wondered why they felt the need to lie about their ages for at least 10 years?

at 15 she had probably been out working for 3 years.
Sounds as though she was an intelligent girl - being a teacher

Up until the early 1900's it was legal for a 12 yr old girl to marry...with parental consent.

I think you will find that that far back older children were used as 'teachers' for the younger ones. All the children would have been in one room often in little village schools, and younger ones were helped by older ones. Also if you read very old books you will find that what we still think of as a child i.e. a fifteen year old will have been out to work in some way for often around two years, and expected to bring some money into the family.
They may be being trained in the kitchen of a large house, starting off as a very lowly pot scrubber and working their way up. Fifteen was not thought of as being a child although I think they still could not do certain things without parental consent, so maybe thats why there is the age discrepancy.
Eileen

I know that these days there is a scandal when a teacher has a relationship with a pupil, would there have been the same scandal in 1860?
I have ancestors who married then both giving their occupation as National school teacher. The odd thing is that she gives her age as 18 and he as 29, however she had just turned 15 and he was 35! in the 1861 census she still gives her age as 18 and he as 28, by 1871 they have changed she is 25 and he is 43.