January 19, 1937, a 22-year-old Tennessee farmer named Charlie
Johns married his neighbor, Eunice Winstead. He paid a Baptist preacher a
dollar to perform the ceremony. The only remarkable thing about this wedding
was the bride was nine years old. Eunice had lied to her family, telling them
she was walking to town to buy a doll. Charlie and Eunice didn’t believe they’d
done anything wrong. There were child brides in both their families. They broke
no laws. In Tennessee at the time, there was no minimum marriageable age. When
the story hit the news, though, the country was outraged. Tennessee (and
several other states) quickly changed their laws. The Johns’ stayed married 60
years, until Charlie passed in 1997. They had nine kids, the first one born
when Eunice was fourteen. Evelyn, that first child, eloped with a twenty-year-old
when she was seventeen. Her dad, who was by this time 44, objected to their marriage.
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