Evening star., 1937-02-05
BY WILLIAM A. BELL, Jr.

INQUIRIES inspired by the current
fIlrore over the marriages OF a 9-year-
old Tennessee nd 12-year-olo
New York girl IT Al that child mar
riages are more common in the United
States, even in nearby Maryland. than
generally supposed.
Detailed information on many
States is lacking, but in so far
as could be determined. Eunice
Winstead Brown, the Tennessee
mountain child VINO hasn't yet at
tanned her first decade, is the youngest
married native American in the his
tory of marital statistics. There have
been a number of marriages, however.
Of girls as young or younger than
Leona Roshia Backus. II, OF Water
town, N. Y. Most of these have been
dissolved by annulment, divorce, aban-
donment or the imprisonment OF the
husband on statutory charges.
The youngest marriage ever report
ed to the District Bureau OF Child
Welfare was that of girl of IA.
Maryland Marriages.
In MARYLAND, however, several cases
Of extremely youthful marriage have
been recorded. including that Of a
girl of 10 and another of II. acord-
ing to the American Youth Commls-
sion. A Statewide inquiry by the
commission revealed there were more
than so Maryland brides who had
married at an age when most girls
are still playing with dolls
In personal conferences with
6.642 young women under the age OF
"a" the commission reported yester-
day, "the intervieWers learned that
2.2l6 of them are married and Att
Of these told the age at which they
were married.
"One-third of them. or 1872, were
married by the time they reached II,
and 403 others at the age Of 18. the
most frequent age shown in the re-
port
Thus more than half the girls who
told their marriage age revealed they
were married by the time they were
in their eighteenth year, usually con-
sidered in most States an acceptable
minimum for matrimony, without
parental consent"
In addition to the 10 and IL year
old brides, the commission found that
two girls had been married at the age
Of IL, II girls girls at 13, 36 at IA,
125 at IS and 205 at Is.
The Census Bureau recorded the eX-
istence in this country, as of April l
1880, of 4.24l married girls under Is
This represents a reduction from the
1854 married females under IS at the
time of the 1920 census. OF the 1880
total 265 were recorded as widowed
or divorced, while of the 1920 figure
s25 were in that classification.
Few Compared to Age Total.
The number of married girls under
IS. however shocking it may be to
sociologists and welfare workers, is
only about tWo-thousandthS of l per
cent of the total population of girls
OF this age.
As for married boys under IS the
1880 census records a total of 761 or
only four one hundred -thousandths
Of per cent of the entire population
Of males under Is.
Child Marriage" by Mary E. Rich
mond and Fred S. Hall New York:
The Russell Sage FoundationD states
In pessimistic tone that the legal
minimum marriageable age, a dozen
years ago. was still IA for boys and
IL for girls in IA States-Kentucky
Louisiana. Virginia. Florida. Maine,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ten
nessee. Colorado. Idaho, Maryland,
Mississippi. New Jersey and New
York. There have been amendments
in several of these States since that
time to advance this minimum, but in
many 1t remains the same.
The authors report there are parts Of
the modern world-India especially
where it would be exceptional to find
an unmarried female child over the
age of puberty.
I'VE have found wide gaps declare