The marring of older men by young Girls was not unusual in the old west but recorded, after the civil war when the south was in such poor shape, many disabled veterans married young girls to take care of them. This was encouraged by the girls famines. Many of the veterans were bed fast but drew pensions, This gave the girl and her family a little money to live on. Now the pension were very small $5 or $10 a month went a long way. Many times there was no father in the girls family as he had been killed during the war and the mother was not in the best of health her self. Many years ago there was a lady who retired from the State Department and as a volunteer worked in the basement of the Department of Veterans affairs who kept up with the civil war veterans wives and children and arranged their reunions of the last of their kin. Many of the last of the kin were girls who had married the veterans and taken care of them during their last days. Yes many were married in their early teens strictly to give the girl a home and to care for the Veteran. And if this was done for veterans I am sure it was done for other older men allowing the girls family to gain title to what ever property the older man had when he died. other wise the property went to the state or a politician. We seem to forget how hard it was to make a living in bygone day, and children grew up fast. or died. Joepete On Sat, 12 Aug 2000 00:49:57 -0400 Tootsie Peck <speck836@earthlink.net> writes: > A lot of young men were lost in the wah-ah---both North and South. >