by Kristin Holt | Mar 9, 2016 | Articles
One common thread through all Articles in this series (Nineteenth Century Mail-Order Bride SCAMS) is the criminal’s intention to capitalize on their victims’ loneliness and desire for love and companionship.
Some brides-elect and grooms-elect actually had their intellect about them enough to recognize when things weren’t quite right (even if fraud was not involved in one out of three incidences)… and made prudent decisions about their course of action.
by Kristin Holt | Feb 28, 2016 | Articles
If you recall seeing the 2010 movie, LEAP YEAR, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, then you know a great deal of fun can be poked at the long-held European tradition of ladies taking a turn, roughly once every four years, in the dominant role of pursuer in a romantic relationship.
According to an article titled LEAP YEAR, and subtitled: Ladies’ law in Leap Year–Bachelors’ Penalty, as published in The Weekly Kansas Chief newspaper on 21 January, 1892, “A lady has the privilege in leap year of suggesting marriage between herself and a bachelor acquaintance.
by Kristin Holt | Feb 17, 2016 | Articles
A man with two wives (neither knows about the other) seeks yet two more, entirely to swindle them of their means. This 1899 tale is so well worth reading.
Franks, as he presents himself on the West Coast, in the middle of defrauding women through multiple marriage agencies is scammed, himself, by a wealthy widow in demand of a expensive courtship.
Amateur historians will find myriad details worth noting, such as the communication of chiefs of police, use of the term “dead beat,” laws on the books, and so much more.
by Kristin Holt | Feb 5, 2016 | Articles
The term “Mail-Order Bride” is a 20th century development, though current popular fiction suggests it was common as early as the Civil War.
Matrimonial advertisements were published in newspapers far more often than a “catalog” of sorts. In fact more than one Matrimonial-type newspaper started up in the late 19th Century. The Matrimonial News did quite well in London, Germany, and the United States.
by Kristin Holt | Feb 2, 2016 | Articles
Mail-order catalogs didn’t show up in America as early as you might think… and couldn’t have impacted the mail-order bride phenomenon as early as today’s popular fiction market makes it seem.
