Marriage

[george capton]

Hi
I am wondering if there was any special reason young couples would go to the
USA single, then get married as soon as they got there. Why not be married before
they left Denmark.  George

[Jens Viliam Froulund Villumsen]

Hi George.

I think that most of the young people went to the USA as real single. They didn't know their mate. Many found their partner onboard the ship. It was a long trawel where time had to be used the best.
I have in my own family two single danes, that travelled to USA independant, in 1891 she went, and he in 1892. And they married in Chicago.
So I think it is very few, that knew eachother from Denmark, and then got married as soon as they got to the USA.

[Jane C]

My paternal grandparents immigrated separately. They were engaged to be married before he left. They decided it was best for him to find a job and get settled. Then they married quite shortly after she joined him. I was surprised when I found their records by this. The fact that they were together unchaperoned (so to speak) for a month or so before marriage was never part of their story as the family had told the story! That's one of the things I love about family history - that we find these facts that add humanity to the image we have of someone.
    I would have thought my grandmother would have wanted the security of a marriage bond before taking the ship to a new country. She was a devout Christian and I think she also had a strong faith in my grandfather. Her letters to him during their time of separation (many were saved) are touching in her expression of trust in their future together. Her family very much opposed her leaving, as they would miss her, and maybe this way of arranging things was to make them feel more secure, that my grandfather could provide for her if she joined him in America.

[george capton]

My paternal grandparents immigrated separately. They were engaged to be married before he left. They decided it was best for him to find a job and get settled. Then they married quite shortly after she joined him. I was surprised when I found their records by this. The fact that they were together unchaperoned (so to speak) for a month or so before marriage was never part of their story as the family had told the story! That's one of the things I love about family history - that we find these facts that add humanity to the image we have of someone.
    I would have thought my grandmother would have wanted the security of a marriage bond before taking the ship to a new country. She was a devout Christian and I think she also had a strong faith in my grandfather. Her letters to him during their time of separation (many were saved) are touching in her expression of trust in their future together. Her family very much opposed her leaving, as they would miss her, and maybe this way of arranging things was to make them feel more secure, that my grandfather could provide for her if she joined him in America.

My grandfather came to the US in 1890 at 17, he went back to Denmark in 1897 and returned
to the USA with my grandmother she was 17. On the ship manifest it looks like they are travelling as a couple, but they were single & they married shortly after getting to S.Dakota. When he went to the
USA my grandmother was only 9 so I  am sure love was not in the air. But in 1890 he was a hired man to my great grand mother's brother. Prearranged  who knows. George