1890s/1900 was actually a local maximum in women's marriage age that would not be equalled until about 1980. http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_a

1890s/1900 was actually a local maximum in women's marriage age that would not be equalled until about 1980. http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_and_Ruggles.pdf http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/Fitch_and_Ruggle... shows 10% of native-born, white US women were married by age 17 in 1850 (first year of data), and that 10% threshold rose rapidly through the latter half of the century, so it may have been more common to have very young brides earlier in the century. Though at 10% even in 1850, it was not unusual. Add confounding factors like immigration and poverty, and young brides may have been even more common (and vulnerable to be protected or taken advantage of depending on your perspective)