Aside from recent celebrity elopements, there have been many famous elopements throughout history. Below is an excerpt from our book, Let's Elope! showing that eloping is not just for a the budget traveler but it is for true romantics. My favorite is the Clark Gable story. Enjoy!
Famous Elopements
A Love Written in the Stars (and Stripes): Betsy Ross Betsy (Griscom) Ross was raised in a strict Quaker family in Pennsylvania. She was serving an apprenticeship as an upholsterer when she met and fell in love with John Ross, an Episcopalian. They eloped, but Betsy suffered the consequences. She was “read out” of the Quaker meeting house for marrying an Episcopalian, which cut her off completely from her religious community and her family. Soon after, at the request of Congress, Betsy Ross sewed the first Stars and Stripes flag for the new United States of America. Sweet 16s: Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley, famous radical political writer of the early 1800s, first caused a scandal when he married 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a coffeehouse keeper. They eloped to Scotland and Shelley’s father never forgave him for creating such a scene. Shelley moved to Ireland and became known for his revolutionary speeches on politics and religion. He later returned to England and met fellow revolutionary thinker William Godwin. Shelley was struggling financially, so Godwin invited Shelley and his wife to live in his home. Shelley started to feel that Harriet was not able to share his intellectual pursuits and they separated. Shelley then became intrigued with Godwin’s 16-year-old daughter, Mary, and they became secret lovers. Godwin disapproved of the romance and in July 1814, the couple eloped to France. Mary Shelley went on to become an author and wrote the famous horror story Frankenstein. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, perhaps one of Hollywood’s most romantic couples, eloped in March 1939. Their romance began in 1936 when both were at a formal ball called The White Mayfair Ball. Although earlier they had filmed a movie together and seemed to be interested in each other at that time, they had an argument and no romance followed. The morning after their “remeeting” at the ball, Gable awoke to doves flying about his hotel room. Lombard had ordered the doves and Gable knew he had another chance with her. In March 1939, when taking a few days off from filming Gone with the Wind, Gable showed that he really didn’t “give a damn” about Scarlett, and he and Lombard eloped to Kingman, Arizona.
Frankly, Scarlett, I’m in love with someone else…
