When Did a Girl Become a Woman in the Old West?

Hello Reader Friends!

I’m BEYOND excited to be back with my Petticoats and Pistols family again today!

As I was writing my most recent book, Mail-Order Lady, I stumbled down a historical rabbit hole that I thought you might find interesting:

If you were a nineteen-year-old woman in 1870, were you an adult—or did you still have to mind your mama?

As it turns out, the answer depended a whole lot on where you lived!

In Mail-Order Lady, the heroine, Clara McKinney, is nineteen years old and originally from South Carolina. But during the story, she’s living in the Montana Territory.

And that distinction matters more than I realized.

You’re an Adult…But He’s Not?

In 1870, there was no standard age of majority throughout the United States. Each state and territory had its own rules.

And Montana Territory had a particularly interesting one.

According to a federal government report from the period, women in Montana reached their legal majority at eighteen, while men didn’t reach theirs until twenty-one! Even more surprising, Montana law allowed a man to marry at eighteen, while the report listed no fixed marriage age for women.

So at nineteen, Clara was already legally an adult in Montana.

Her mother could travel all the way from South Carolina and insist Clara come home for an arranged marriage. But legally? Mama was no longer in charge.

 

 

But What If Clara Went Home to South Carolina?

Here’s where things get even more interesting.

South Carolina set the age of majority at twenty-one for both men and women. So back home, nineteen-year-old Clara would still have been considered a minor.

South Carolina’s marriage laws were unusual in another way, though. The state didn’t yet have the marriage-license system we’re familiar with today, and parental consent wasn’t required in the same way it was in some other places.

So Clara’s mother couldn’t simply order her to marry a particular man. But at nineteen, Clara would still be a minor in South Carolina—and family expectations, financial dependence, and social pressure could give Mama plenty of influence over her future.

In Montana, though? At nineteen, Clara was legally grown.

What If Clara Had Been in England?

The difference becomes even more fun when we compare Clara’s situation to the English Balfour family she’s marrying into.

In England, the age of majority was still twenty-one. And marriage laws gave parents considerably more authority over the marriages of young people under that age.

Under the Marriage Act of 1823, parental or guardian consent was an important part of marriages involving someone under twenty-one, with different procedures depending on whether the marriage was by license or banns.

So imagine being nineteen in 1870.

In England, you’re still a minor, and your parents can have a very real say in your marriage.

Travel thousands of miles west to Montana Territory and—if you’re a woman—you’re an adult at eighteen.

Meanwhile, the nineteen-year-old fellow standing beside you still has two years to go!

Apparently, the frontier wasn’t only a place where people could build new lives. In some cases, it could actually change their legal status.

 

 

Which Brings Me Back to Clara…

All of this became especially fascinating while I was writing Mail-Order Lady.

Clara’s family has very definite ideas about her future—including the man they expect her to marry. When her mother arrives in Montana determined to take her back to South Carolina, Clara has some difficult decisions to make.

Fortunately, there’s also Robert Balfour.

Robert is the scholarly Balfour brother, much more comfortable with books than courting women. But he’s been secretly in love with Clara for months now…ever since his brother married her sister. When circumstances push Clara and Robert toward a marriage of convenience, suddenly the question of who gets to decide Clara’s future becomes very important indeed.

And thankfully, the laws of Montana Territory were firmly on nineteen-year-old Clara’s side.

It’s one of my favorite parts of writing historical romance: I’ll start researching one tiny detail for a scene and discover something I never expected.

I pray you love Mail-Order Lady! And don’t forget to grab the rest of the books in the series if you haven’t read them already. (You can read them free in Kindle Unlimited.)

 

Now I’m curious about you!

If you were nineteen-year-old Clara in 1870 and your mother arrived in Montana determined to take you home to marry the man she’d chosen for you, what would you do?  Would you go home to keep the peace—or would you remind Mama that in Montana Territory, you’re a grown woman now? ? Answer in the comments for a chance to win a signed copy of Mail-Order Viscountess (which is book 3, the book right before this one)!

 

Thank you so much,

Misty M. Beller