Karenlee, you're right.... I suppose that makes sense, most especially given that women didn't have the freedoms and the employment options back then as they do now. It was a different world.
After all, what were the options for Sophia and her children -- the poor house, work house, prison, starvation, deportation? I guess for a middle-age woman in Sophia's circa 1838 position, marrying anybody that was willing was about as preferable as it got, regardless of age .... and then, as now, no relationship is necessarily guaranteed, hence the apparent falling-out with Alfred Holden, and the subsequent fling with Thomas Smith.
For some reason, the term "organic" comes to mind. I don't know why, really, but there ya go.... organic, and very human.
Mike
