296 



The Journal of Heredity 



tion of thj county were negroes, and 

 thirteen is just 2.6% of four hundred 

 and ninety-four. So that the large 

 number of feebb-minded now in the 

 county cannot be laid to the negro race 

 nor to the immigrants, but rather to 

 the detarioration of the native stock, or 

 else the perpetviation of the mental 

 defects of the old stock. 



In the study of the feeble-minded at 

 large in the county, the fact was brought 

 out that there were proportionately 

 just twice as many in the rural dis- 

 tricts as in the cities; also that thci min- 

 ing districts had a much larger propor- 

 tion of feeble-minded than the agri- 

 cultural districts. This last fact is 

 probably partly due to the geographical 

 characteristics of the mining districts 

 where the hills are so steep as to be 

 entirely unsuited for agricultural ]jur- 

 poses, and for that reason most of the 

 land belongs to the coal companies, 

 thus aflfording space where defective 

 families may build their shanties and 

 live undisturbed. Another causative 

 factor is that defectives may work in 

 the mines more profitably than on farms 

 because steady work is not required and 

 many opportunities are afforded for 

 working under direction in jobs that 

 make no call on initiative. 



A careful comparison was made of 

 the numh)er of feeble-minded in each 

 township and the average amount of 

 township aid given yearly in those 

 townships. It was found that where 

 the proportion of feeble-minded at 

 large in the community was high, the 

 amount of aid given was corresi^ondingly 

 high and where the proportion was low, 

 the amount of aid given was corre- 

 spondingly low. There seemed to be 

 a direct relationship between the two 

 factors. 



As has already been mentioned, 

 heredity histories of varying thorough- 

 ness were ol)tained for all of the feeble- 

 minded in the county. Seven families 

 were found to which belonged 144 

 feeble-minded persons, or 26.8% of 

 the total number of feeble-minded now 

 living in the county. Of this number, 

 twelve were in the county institutions 

 and 132 were at large. Seventy-eight 

 of these feeble-minded ])ersons, five 



in the county institutions and the others 

 at large, or 14.5% of the total in the 

 county, belonged to a highly inbred 

 family of defectives which has been 

 called the Hickory Family. Sixty-two 

 separate Hickory families were found 

 living in the county of whom forty- 

 eight were centered in one township. 

 It was discovered that all were descended 

 from a common ancestor who came to 

 America from a French port in the days 

 I^reccding the American Revolution. 

 He married an Indian squaw and 

 settled in the back woods of Penn- 

 sylvania. His six sons and one daughter 

 emigrated to Ohio about the year 1800 

 and took up land near each other 

 bordering a creek. Descendants of 

 five of these children are now living in 

 the county studied. The oldest of the 

 brothers, who has been called Happy 

 Hickory, was undoubtedly feeble- 

 minded. Seventy-five of the seventy- 

 eight feeble-minded Hickorys now in 

 the county are lineal descendants of 

 this man. Thirty-five of these, because 

 of the close inter-marrying, are also 

 lineal descendants of some one of his 

 sibs. A summary of the 401 descend- 

 ants of Hap])y Hickory has been made. 

 Eighty-seven, or 21.8%, of these did 

 not reach an age beyond fourteen years. 

 One hundred and forty, or 34.9%. 

 could not be classified because of lack 

 of information or youth. Of the re- 

 maining 174 who reached an age 

 beyond fourteen years and about whom 

 definite information was gained, vSl.1% 

 were known to be feeble-minded and 

 another 17.8% are suspected of having 

 been so. 



AN INBRED FAMILY 



This family is highly inbred, probably 

 ])artly because of the geographical 

 features of the township in which they 

 live, which is the one having the 

 steepest hills and the most inaccessible 

 ridges in the county, and also because 

 they are largely ostracized by their 

 neighbors, both of which factors tend 

 to limit selection of mates. Of eighty- 

 nine marriages shown on the chart 

 made of Haj^py Hickory and his 

 descendants, fifty, or 56%, are cousin 

 marriages of varying degree, ranging 



