Lori Love
Joined: 05 Feb 2018
Replies: 17
Location: Las Vegas, NVBack to top |
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:23 am
Post subject: Unwed mother
My great grandmother was from a very small village called Coton. According to my research, in the late 1800's, it had a population of 120 people, 12 homes, and 2 other structures. It appears that most girls got married by the time they were 21. (Even in 1950's, a woman unmarried at age 23 was considered an old maid.) Rumor had it that my great grandmother had twins before she was married. I have now confirmed this with her marriage records and the baptism record for her twin daughter. She gave birth when she was 23. She didn't get married till she was 27 to my great-grandfather. Once she married him, she had 9, maybe 10 more children. Back in such a small town if a gal was pregnant there would have been a shotgun wedding of sorts. Does the fact that she had twins, without being married, in a small town, at the age of 23 means that she was probably raped? Does the baptism record indicate anything? Was there a newspaper at the time for the village area that would indicate anything? (My mother-in-law told me stories about soldiers systematically raping all woman after WWII) Any guesses of what happened back in 1887? I am attaching the record of baptism. I did cut the body and past it to the heading. Thanks for any input.
| Description: |
|
| Filesize: |
255.46 KB |
| Viewed: |
0 Time(s) |
|
|
|
|
dnowickiPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2793
Location: Michigan City, IndianaBack to top |
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:42 pm
Post subject: Re: Unwed mother
| Lori Love wrote: | | My great grandmother was from a very small village called Coton. According to my research, in the late 1800's, it had a population of 120 people, 12 homes, and 2 other structures. It appears that most girls got married by the time they were 21. (Even in 1950's, a woman unmarried at age 23 was considered an old maid.) Rumor had it that my great grandmother had twins before she was married. I have now confirmed this with her marriage records and the baptism record for her twin daughter. She gave birth when she was 23. She didn't get married till she was 27 to my great-grandfather. Once she married him, she had 9, maybe 10 more children. Back in such a small town if a gal was pregnant there would have been a shotgun wedding of sorts. Does the fact that she had twins, without being married, in a small town, at the age of 23 means that she was probably raped? Does the baptism record indicate anything? Was there a newspaper at the time for the village area that would indicate anything? (My mother-in-law told me stories about soldiers systematically raping all woman after WWII) Any guesses of what happened back in 1887? I am attaching the record of baptism. I did cut the body and past it to the heading. Thanks for any input. |
Lori,
Rather than an attack by a rapist it is much more likely that, given the constancy of the human condition, it was an attack of hormones. There was no war in the area and no armies were passing through. Forcible rape was not common among Poles. In the record the mother is described as a servant (famula), which indicates that she was employed as a domestic and probably was not living with her parents. She was probably living with the individual or family whom she served. At the time most of the houses were actually cottages of one or two rooms.120 people and 10 houses meant living near young men whose hormones were also active. Although a number of young women who were pregnant before marriage did marry before giving birth, a substantial number did not. A single woman giving birth was far from a rare event. Villages had no hometown newspapers and even if they did, the birth of twins to an unwed mother would only be news for gossip columns.
Speaking of gossip…A collection of 13th Century Latin poems/songs, the Carmina Burana, contains the lament of an unwed pregnant girl in which she speaks of how she thought that she was slick in hiding her activities. It worked until she started to show that she was with child. Things went downhill from there...her mother was crying...her father was angry...her neighbors would stare and point and gossip like she had done something unique...her boyfriend was afraid and cut out for parts unknown...The story could have been from 1950 rather than 1250. Just goes to show that some things don’t change.
Dave
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
Register