In the late 1800's in America the same thing happened. My great grandmother's sister (Amelia) died after having a son. Then her other sister (Anna) married their brother-in-law. The brother -in-law was 75 when he married Amelia and 78 when he married Anna. He did not marry Amelia to take care of his children though -- he had grandchildren when he married her. But he probably married Anna to take care of his youngest son (by Amelia). Anna died only after seven years of marriage, so my great grandparents then adopted the son. Barbara Bower Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:29:34 -0400 > From: Mark Painter <[email protected]> > Subject: [BW] Marriage Customs > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > <[email protected]om > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > I'm curious to know how common it was for older men to marry younger women > in the early 1700's in Baden. I have a Christoph Bender born 1658 who owned > a farm near Kirchardt, he married when young and had several children. In > 1710 it appears he married again at age 50 to a woman 18 years old and had > another family. The marriage record stated he was a widower. I thought > there may have been a younger Christoph in the area, but to date I've found > no other's in the area or surrounding villages. He died in 1731 at age 71, > she in 1735 at age 43, a difference of 28 years. I had an American ancestor > who did this but as society was much more controlled in Baden in those days > I'm curious of how this would have been seen. > Mark > > >