376 



The Jotirnal of Heredity 



Father of his Country at only four 

 removes from the living individual, 

 nothing is more certain than that our 

 hypothetical living individual had fifteen 

 other ancestors in George Washington's 

 generation, any one of whom may play 

 as great or greater a part in his ancestry ; 

 and so remote are they all that, on 

 statistical grounds alone, it is calculated* 

 that the contribution of George Wash- 

 ington to the ancestry of our hypothet- 

 ical living individiial would be perha|)S 

 not more than one-third of !*;'( of the 

 total. 



I do not mean to disparage descent 

 from a famous man or woman. It is a 

 matter of legitimate pride and congratu- 

 lation. But claims for respect made on 

 that ground alone are, from a biological 

 point of view, usually contemptible, 

 if the hero is several generations 

 removed. What Sir Francis Galton 

 wrote of the peers of England may, 

 with slight reserves, be given general 

 application to the descendants of famous 

 jjcople : 



"An old i)eerage is a valueless title 

 to natural gifts, except so far as it may 

 have been furbished up by a succession 

 of wise intermarriages. ... I cannot 

 think of any claim to respect, put for- 

 ward in modern days, that is so entirely 

 an imposture as that made by a peer on 

 the ground of descent, who has neither 

 been nobly educated, nor has any 

 eminent kinsman within three degrees." 



But, some one may protest, am I not 

 shattering the very edifice of which I 



am a professed defender, in thus denying 

 the force of heredity? Not at all. I 

 wish merely to emphasize that a man 

 has sixteen great-grandparents, instead 

 of one, and that we too often overlook 

 those in the maternal lines, although 

 from a biological point of view they are 

 every bit as important as those in the 

 paternal lines. And I wish further to 

 emphasize the point that it is the near 

 relatives who, on the whole, represent 

 what we are. The great family which 

 for a generation or two makes unwise 

 marriages, must live on its past reputa- 

 tion and see the work of the world done 

 and the prizes carried away by the 

 children of wiser matings. No family 

 can maintain its place merely by the 

 power of inertia. Every marriage that 

 a member of the family makes is a 

 matter of vital concern to the future of 

 the family : and this is one of the lessons 

 which a broad science of genealogy 

 should inculcate in every }-outh. 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR WORK 



Is it practicable to direct genealogy 

 on this slightly different line? As to 

 that, I must allow you to judge; it 

 would be i^resumptuous for me to 

 express an opinion. Let me recall, 

 however, the qualifications which old 

 Professor William Chaiuicey Fowler laid 

 down^ as essential for a successful 

 genealogist : 



Love of kindred. 



Love of investigation. 



Active imagination. 



^ Galton's Law of Ancestral Heredity (which is purely statistical in nature and may be quite 

 misleading when applied to individual cases) makes it possible to calculate the contribution of each 

 ancestor, all the way to infinity. Pearson has modified this law, but as I cite it here only by 

 way of iUustration, I give Galton's original version for the sakj of simplicity. Following is the 

 calculation for the first six generations: 



Hialton, Francis. Hereditary Genius, p. 87. London, The Macmillan Company, I860. 

 ' Fowler, William Chauncey. Conditions of Success in (K-nealogical Investigations. \. E. 

 Hist, and Gen. .Soc, Boston, 1866. 



