Is late marriage a mark of economic well-being?

The aim of the article is to characterize the marriage age of newlyweds in the northern part of Užnemunė and to identify the local identity. For this purpose the Metric Books of Marriages of 1922- 1938 in the Catholic parishes of Barzdai, Gelgaudiškis, Griškabūdis, Ilguva, Kaimelis, Lekėčiai, Lukšiai, Paežerėliai, Paluobiai, Plokščiai, Šakiai, Sintautai, Slavikai, Sudargas, Sutkai, Valakbūdis and Žemoji Panemunė have been analysed. Excluding the local specificity of the region, two economically contrasting regions of the Užnemunė territory have been compared: the southern one inhabited by Dzūkai on low-lying sandy soils, and the northern one inhabited by Zanavykai on wide and fertile plains. The natural features of Dzūkija region did not encourage the development of agriculture, and the inhabitants supported the vitality of archaic forest businesses. As a result, the farms were quite small and had more family members than in Zanavykija. For example, farms of 4 – 6 persons dominated in Alytus and Seinai Counties, and farms of 3 – 5 persons in Šakiai County. The “whole estate of the Dzūkas” was a one-end house, a 3rd class piece of land, a horse, two cows, and a thousand debt to the bank. Meanwhile, Zanavykija was named as the birthplace of Lithuanian craftsmen, priests, linguists, writers, a paradise for Lithuanian gardens and homesteads, where it is “smooth like on God’s table.” There was a lot of fertile land suitable for agriculture, and the region’s inhabitants became the richest Lithuanian farmers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Different economic capacities have influenced the education of the population, the characteristics of the living environment, and, possibly, marital behaviour