Title: Marriage, Children, and Home Life in the 1700s - 18th Century History -- The Age of Reason and Change
Headings: Marriage, Children, and Home Life in the 1700s
Marriage, Children, and Home Life in the 1700s
Marriage and Childbirth
Children and Home Life
About The Author

Content: Marriage and Childbirth
Marrying a person for love was rare in the 1700s. Most married for money or status. Well-to-do women almost always married wealthy men and men always married upper-class women. Otherwise, they would face major humiliation from their families and social circles. Wealthy people believed that a poor woman wouldn’t possess the social graces necessary to fit in with their class. Although middle-class status was not common in the 1700s because most people were either wealthy or poor, middle-class individuals had more freedom to marry whomever they choose. Women of the middle class were expected to marry up, although they still had more choice of their own than a wealthier woman might. Sometimes, women of lower-class families were months pregnant before marrying because the families wanted to ensure fertility before the marriage was official. And even though childbirth was dangerous, most women became pregnant many times in their lives. Miscarriages and infant death were common but multiple children were expected regardless.