An announcement in a 1940 newspaper indicated that a local girl, after meeting a foreign student at a nearby college, had flown to New Zealand to marry him.
Curious what happened to her after the marriage, I did little research on her. While I am not certain what happened in New Zealand, two years later in her home state of Missouri, she married another man using her maiden name.
The reminder here is that the intention to marry is not the same thing as actually getting married. Only enter a couple as married in your genealogical database as married when you have evidence that the marriage actually took place. This usually means seeing the returned license or seeing evidence of a date and place of the marriage along with at least the name of the officiant.
Not every couple who gets engaged gets married. Not every couple who takes out a license gets married. Not every couple who signs marriage bonds get married. While most couples who somehow publicly announce their intention to get married actually do, some do not.
Apparently not everyone who travels to New Zealand gets married either.
No responses yet