“She Never Inclined to It”: Childhood, Family Relationships, and Marital Choice in Eighteenth-Century England

Abstract

Abstract:Analyzing the family dynamics in the childhoods and youths of the three Sharp cousins, Jemima (born 1762), Catherine (born 1770), and Mary (born 1778), reveals the impact childhood family experiences had on marriage decisions in eighteenth-century England. Careful attention to the girls’ particular family context during their young years helps recapture children’s choices and the ways childhood shaped adult decisions. The girls grew up in a family largely composed of single adults, and that experience shaped their later attitudes toward marriage. It uses a microhistorical approach to illuminate otherwise unrecoverable childhood experiences and the family context that shaped those experiences.