My grandmother came to this country from Lithuania with her parents. Less than 10 years later, they were both dead. She lived with her older brother, who also had a wife, a baby, and another on the way. It was decided (without her) that she had to leave via marriage. She was 19.
Her brother convinced a man who was already engaged to be married -- 3 1/2 years to be exact. The promise was to be brought into his successful retail business if he left his fiancee high and dry and if this man immediately married my grandmother. A deal was made.
Without telling his fiancee -- and her discovering the truth the day of the marriage -- this man married my grandmother, who, BTW, didn't want to get married in the first place.
The fiancee sued for Breach of Promise as her marketability on the marriage scene was greatly scarred. The brother of the fiancee committed suicide in the "men's toilet" of the department store owned by my grandmother's brother. And my grandmother gave birth 10 months after the marriage.
Not a love story. It was 1904 and lots of immigrants were doing the same thing. But so much sadness woven into my family.
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