Hello readers! A little more than a week ago I finished Spring For Susannah - Catherine Richmond's debut novel. A characteristic of this book is that Susannah was a mail-order bride. So, I thought that I would base my history post off of it and talk about mail-order brides! :)

Mail-order brides began to spread popularly as soon as America was settled. With an excessive amount of roudy men in the west and refined ladies in the east, it seemed to be logical to put an ad in the paper, asking for a wife.



When parents died, women had no where to go. It wasn't like today where women live on their own and have jobs, etc. If you were a woman alone in the world, you were in big trouble. Marrying promised protection, food, and a roof over your head. So the women from the east who knew how to cook, clean, take care of a family, etc were able to move west, marry, and start a family.  I'm sure all the women were eager to "manner-up" their husbands too. ;)



In return, the men received hot meals and a help meet. It was a win-win!



Could you imagine seeing an ad in Sunday's paper these days? "Wanted: Wife."
Haha I can't! That would be ridiculous! But in fact, mail-order brides are still popular today! Shocker?
Often they come from other countries. I don't know much about contemporary mail-order brides, but I was amazed to learn that it was still practiced in today's society. Not so much in America, but in other countries.



So there you have it! There's some info on Mail-Order Brides. I think it's kinda crazy and appalling to marry someone like that. So I am happy society has changed! Lol