United States Legal Ages

• To be an apprentice: Age 14 for males, 12 for females. • To make contracts: Age 14 for males, 12 for females. • To be the executor of a will: Age 14 for males, 12 for females. • To perform jury duty: Age 21. • To be a land owner: Age 16. • Legal age for marriage: Parental consent generally required until 21 (males), and 18 (females) • To serve in the militia, age 16. • Age for naturalization: Age 21. • Age to be a taxpayer: Age 16 or 21, depending on the state and time period. • Age to vote: Age 21. • Age to make a will: Age 14 for males, 12 for females (different, however, for CT, MA, VA, VT). • Age to witness a document's signing: Age 14 for males, 12 for females.

SOURCES: Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds., The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, 3rd ed''. ''(Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2006) p. 275.