photo #8043343

34-year-old Homer Peel kisses his 12-year-old bride, Geneva, on the courthouse steps in Tennessee, 1937. Marriage with a minor was legal in the United States during the 1930s, as it is in some states today. Most states set the minimum age for marriage at 14–16 for girls and 16–18 for boys, often with parental consent. Some states allowed marriage at even younger ages with judicial approval.