Age at marriage

[Geoffers]

There was another thread on one of the forums which mentioned age at marriage - I can't for the life of me find it now. But, whilst indexing the 1861 census for Sculthorpe (RG9/1245) I found an entry with a note from the enumerator which hints that by this time, marrying young may have been somewhat unusual. The entry stuck me as unusual and rather interesting.

The entry on folio 188 page 8, records a family's ages as:

Robert RUST, 30 and his wife, Mary aged 28
Children in the family were:
Robert RUST son 14
Rebecca RUST dau 12
John WRIGHT (Son-in-law) 10
William RUST son, 8
Philip RUST son 1
Thomas (PLANE?) nephew 10
Daniel RUST, son 3

The enumerator has written "Was struck by the ages of the head of this family and the oldest child. The man says (...tenally?) they are correct. The present wife is the second one. E."

Geoffers

[Linda]

Interesting Geoffers.

Should I assume that "son-in-law" was a term used for what we would call "step-son"?

Linda

[Geoffers]

Interesting Geoffers.
Should I assume that "son-in-law" was a term used for what we would call "step-son"?
Linda

Yes, descriptions of relationships were not always as we understand them today. Son-in-Law was frequently used to describe a stepson.

Geoffers