Real Dating Ads From the 1880s. You Couldn’t Make These Up if You Tried
Money was a big deal, women must be domesticated, an old maid was 27, and there was a weird mechanic fetish
Benjamin Franklin had a funny story about his first marriage prospect. The girl’s parents openly encouraged then to fool around. They’d invite him over and put the two of them in the parlor. Alone. Wink, wink.
In the Victorian era, when parents peeked in the parlor, it wasn’t to make sure the kids were behaving. It was hoping they weren’t. High five if there was groping going on. Petting in the parlour led to marriage.
Whew, that’s one daughter provided for.
Meeting someone was the hard part...
If you were young and unmarried, your marriage prospects were the young men and women your family knew. Trust me, no one wanted to meet the “perfectly lovely” girl or boy Auntie Agnes knew. Oh, God!
What was a single to do? Hope, until Tootsie came to the rescue.
In 1896, a new section appeared in one of the top newspapers with a circulation of 350,000. It was called Tootsie’s Matrimonial Agency and allowed singles to place an ad and find their own dates.
