I am trying to sort out some people (mostly farmers and blacksmiths) who lived in 17th century Turweston, where the PRs don't survive. I'm wondering if someone whose ancestors showed the good judgement to live in parishes with surviving parish records can give me some insights into typical ages at first marriage in this period. The 18th century descendants of these people mostly married in their late 20s or early 30s, and I'm wondering if that would have been typical of the 17th century as well, or whether there might have been more who married younger. I know the Civil War and the Plague made 17th century mortality rates higher than in the 18th century, and I'm wondering if that might have provided more openings for people to marry earlier. Thanks, Heather Olsen

[email protected] wrote: > I am trying to sort out some people (mostly farmers and > blacksmiths) who lived in 17th century Turweston, where the PRs > don't survive. I'm wondering if someone whose ancestors showed the > good judgement to live in parishes with surviving parish records > can give me some insights into typical ages at first marriage in > this period. Legally it could be anything from 12 for a girl or 14 for a boy. The registers for your period of interest that I've seen have shown a wide variety of ages from late teens to early 30s. At least one lady didn't marry for the first time until she was in her 50s. This was in a village with a lot of farms, and two blacksmiths most of the time. There was no hard and fast rule but the majority were in their early 20s. However, what was a norm in one place, needn't be the norm in another.