A Runaway Match in Snohomish County
A Seattle daughter elopes with a fisherman, defying her family's disapproval and facing total estrangement.
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.
Miss Margaret De Wolfe braved the anger of her mother and sister, cast off family ties, and gave up her home for the man she loved when she married Browning N. Burroughs at Everett. It was a runaway match, and the mother did not know that her daughter had any intention of being married until she was told that the girl had gone to Everett with the man she married a few hours later. Miss De Wolfe, an elder sister, at once telephoned the auditor of Snohomish county to refuse to issue the license if there was any possible ground on which a refusal could be based, but Miss Margaret was 18 years old last September, so the license was issued and the young people were married. Mrs. De Wolfe was completely prostrated when she heard the news. The family lives at 317 Coryell Place, and both the mother and older sister were very much exercised when they heard what had transpired at Everett. Since the girl is married, however, they say they will have nothing more to do with her, and she will have to look for comfort from the man of her choice. Burroughs is a fisherman and owns a halibut schooner. The young people have known each other for some time, but Miss De Wolfe says neither she nor her mother ever knew that an engagement existed. It is said that Mrs. De Wolfe did not approve of her daughter's choice, and knowing that parental consent could not be obtained, the young folks decided to take matters into their own hands.
“Since the girl is married, however, they say they will have nothing more to do with her, and she will have to look for comfort from the man of her choice.”
Family feuds over romantic partners and financial standing remain a staple of personal drama, though legal adulthood at 18 now makes such elopements far less difficult to achieve. This 1903 account captures the rigid social boundaries of the era, where parental disapproval often led to total exile for those who prioritized their own choice of partner.
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