The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness — John Shaqi
The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-MindednessGoddard, Henry Herbert
Science
The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness
Goddard, Henry Herbert
Heredity, Human; Mental retardation; People with mental disabilities
Thus, of the children of this pair, the grandparents of Deborah, the sons
have been active and positive in their lives, the one being a horse thief,
the other a sexual pervert, having the alcoholic tendency of his father,
while the daughters are quieter and more passive. Their dullness, however,
does not amount to imbecility. Deborah’s mother herself was of a high type
of moron, with a certain quality which carried with it an element of
refinement. Her sister was the passive victim of her father’s incestuous
practice and later married a normal man. Another sister was twice married,
the first time through the agency of the good woman who attended to the
legalizing of Deborah’s mother’s alliances, the last time, the man, being
normal, attended to this himself. He was old and only wanted a
housekeeper, and this woman, having been strictly raised in an excellent
family, was famous as a cook, so this arrangement seemed to him best. None
of these sisters ever objected to the marriage ceremony when the matter
was attended to for them, but they never seem to have thought of it as
necessary when living with any man.
The stupid helplessness of Deborah’s mother in regard to her own impulses
is shown by the facts of her life. Her first child had for its father a
farm hand; the father of the second and third (twins) was a common laborer
on the railroad. Deborah’s father was a young fellow, normal indeed, but
loose in his morals, who, along with others, kept company with the mother
while she was out at service. After Deborah’s birth in the almshouse, the
mother had been taken with her child into a good family. Even in this
guarded position, she was sought out by a feeble-minded man of low habits.
Every possible means was employed to separate the pair, but without
effect. Her mistress then insisted that they marry, and herself attended
to all the details. After Deborah’s mother had borne this man two
children, the pair went to live on the farm of an unmarried man possessing
some property, but little intelligence. The husband was an imbecile who
had never provided for his wife. She was still pretty, almost girlish--the
farmer was good-looking, and soon the two were openly living together and
the husband had left. As the facts became known, there was considerable
protest in the neighborhood, but no active steps were taken until two or
three children had been born. Finally, a number of leading citizens,
headed by the good woman before alluded to, took the matter up in earnest.
They found the husband and persuaded him to allow them to get him a
divorce. Then they compelled the farmer to marry the woman. He agreed, on
condition that the children which were not his should be sent away. It was
at this juncture that Deborah was brought to the Training School.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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