How Men Found Love In 1800s America Was So Awful It’s Funny
Know how men wrote matrimonial ads? “Not deformed” and “must-have teeth” were at the top of the list.
Imagine a world with no women. Everywhere you look, just men. Men in the streets, men in the stores, men in the taverns and theatres. If a man did happen to see a woman in a tavern or theatre, she was a prostitute.
That was early America.
Across the pond, Victorian singles had romantic courtship rituals. Fancy parties, top hats and tails, evening gowns. Chaperones, calling cards and flower posies with hidden messages.
In America? Nuh-uh.
Didn’t work that way.
First, there were hardly any women.
And the few that were there didn’t go out alone. Only prostitutes went out alone. “Good” girls didn’t go out in public on their own. Plus, men didn’t have a social circle of aunts and friends to introduce them to single ladies, even if there had been any.
For most men, just seeing a lady was an occasion.
“I have had men come 40 miles over the mountains just to look at me. And I’m not much to look at…” said a young bride…
