There was a time when a woman simply could not turn a man down. Because she was expected to just marry any man who showed interest. Because HE wanted her, and asked her father for her hand, and that was the end of it. That's how things were, and to object would mean for the woman to be outcast in many cases. The fear was real.
I mean.... I don’t think you should be too hung up if your ancestors would be ashamed. In fact- maybe be happy. Let’s take the time machine trip As we see romance evolve. Your early ancestor Dude May have been married at 20, but it was probably to a child bride. Right up until shockingly modern times, marrying family wasn’t frowned upon- in fact it was often the norm. The world was a much bigger place and more dangerous. You know the “you have food at home” meme? Yeah. It’s like that except you have sister or niece etc at home. In fact even first cousins weren’t so uncommon right into the 20th century.
Then let’s use our time machine to see... yeah. Through most of the world for most of history, the best or only chance a woman had at survival or a decent life and avoiding social suicide was marriage. It was one of the only ways for a woman to improve her standing in life as well. Some form of arranged marriage or parental consent has often been the case- even now informal “arranged marriage” is still an aspect even in western society.
So great grandpa, and all the great greats? Go ahead and be ashamed- in y’alls day the strongest game you could have was not missing any teeth of having more mules than the next guy- and most of y’all still couldn’t get laid unless you married a child, a family member, or almost literally held a gun to a woman’s head and said “marry him or be a social outcast with no life.” Women have options now, and being the catch of the town involves more than bathing regularly and having a stable source of food. So keep your chins up single dudes and ladies. The game has changed and there are good odds your ancestors- if they were brought to the future in their prime- wouldn’t be able to function at a basic level let alone get by as you are doing. Hopefully your ancestors are smart enough to understand that times are very different and most people aren’t worries about the cholera taking them before they can have kids so we can wait longer to pair up.
*carries you away*