Consanguineous Marriages in the American PopulationArner, George B. Louis (George Byron Louis)
Science
Consanguineous Marriages in the American Population
Arner, George B. Louis (George Byron Louis)
Consanguinity -- United States
(1) An illegitimate son of Ada Juke married a daughter of Bell Juke.
He was a laborer, honest and industrious. She was reputable and
healthy, and her father had a good reputation, but her mother had
given birth to four illegitimate children before marriage, three of
whom were mulattoes. Thus in this marriage of first cousins, three out
of the four parents were of a low moral grade. As a result of this
marriage three sons and three daughters were born. Two sons were
licentious, intemperate and dishonest, two daughters were prostitutes,
and the third became such after her husband was sent to prison. Only
one son turned out fairly well. This son married a second cousin, a
granddaughter of Delia Juke, and four out of his seven children were
above the average of the family. His two elder brothers, however,
married prostitutes, and became ancestors of criminals, prostitutes
and syphilitics.[54]
[Footnote 54: Ibid., Chart I.]
(2) A legitimate son of Ada Juke, whose father was a thief and a
pauper, married a daughter of Clara Juke, whose antecedents were
fairly good. The husband had contracted syphilis before marriage and
entail it upon every one of his eight children. Five daughters became
prostitutes and one was idiotic. The only daughter who bore a good
reputation married a grandson of both Clara and Bell Juke. This was a
remarkable case of selection. Both husband and wife were grandchildren
of Clara, and so first cousins, and both were the offspring of first
cousins, all within the Juke blood. But, on the other hand, both were
the descendants of Clara, the best of the Juke sisters, and both were
the best of the progeny of their respective parents. The only serious
taint was the secondary syphilis which the wife had inherited from her
father. Six children were born, two males and four females. The eldest
son was at 31 "laborer, industrious, temperate;" the eldest daughter
"good repute, temperate, read and write;" second daughter, "harlot;"
third daughter "good repute, temperate;" and the two youngest are
given simply as "unmarried." This family seems to have had as high an
average mentally and morally as any family in the whole tribe, only
one in six being distinctly immoral. In the next generation, the
eldest son had two children, the eldest daughter four, and the third
daughter, who married a first cousin, had one child. It would be of
great interest to know more of this last marriage, the third
generation of consanguinity in marriage, and the fourth first-cousin
marriage in three generations, but at the time the book was written
the parties were still in their early twenties.[55]
[Footnote 55: Dugdale, op. cit., Chart II.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account