It seems like years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was young, you often married someone who grew up in the same town, or who was introduced to you by a friend or family member. So you (or someone you knew well), knew them, their parents, and maybe their grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles and so on. You knew a lot about their home life, family, some financial information, etc.
That still happens, of course, but it’s not unusual today to marry someone that you don’t know much about. So people got burned back then, and they get burned today, but yeah, I’d check.