The Teen Bride and the Soldier
A seventeen-year-old in Port Townsend seeks a trade: her marriage certificate for a new license.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Please, sir, I would like to exchange a marriage certificate for another marriage license, said a diminutive lass, not more than 17 years old and rather good looking, to County Auditor Rogers today. A couple of years ago, she continued, my parents compelled me to marry a man whom I did not love. Since then I have found a better man, who is a soldier at the garrison, and to whom I can give my undying love, and I want to marry him. The auditor was somewhat astonished at the strange request and informed his fair inquirer that she must seek solace in the divorce courts. She said her name was Mrs. James Crane and that while a mere child she was coerced into marrying her present husband. She had unsuccessfully tried the old proverb of marrying first and learning to love afterwards, and has concluded that the only man in whom she could place her future happiness is the soldier boy. Thus far Mrs. Crane has taken no further steps towards securing a divorce.
“I have found a better man, who is a soldier at the garrison, and to whom I can give my undying love.”
While divorce laws have evolved, the story captures a period when young women were frequently treated as property in arranged unions. The longing for a life dictated by personal agency rather than parental coercion remains a perennial struggle, even if the bureaucratic hurdle of the 'marriage certificate exchange' has long since vanished.
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