].........I find it sad when I read the so often repeated "d.unm."

Our modern expectation of being married is much higher than it would have been in JA's time. About 25% of all men and women were unmarried.

Unmarried or childless aunts and uncles played a much more important role in society than today, often living with their extended families and frequently being a useful extra "parent". There was a particular social obligation on married siblings to care for unmarried sisters (accentuating Fanny Dashwood's insensitivity in S&S) and keep them within a family or to see that they were adequately provided for.

Interestingly, the word "poor" as used to describe Leonora is, I think, the same adjective used by JA's mother when referring to her toddler son, George, who had some sort of special need, in a letter to one of her relatives.