A HOME THAT SHOULD BE BROKEN UP 



In this cabin live two of the Hickories (second cousins) and their two young children. Both 

 husband and wife are decidedly feebleminded, and it is certain that all their children 

 will be. It is sometimes a crime for society to break up a family; but it is unquestionably 

 a crime for society not to break up this one, segregating the members for life. (Fig. 5.) 



from double first cousins to third 

 cousins. Twenty-one of the marriages 

 are between persons closer of kin than 

 second cousins, and twenty-one others 

 are between second cousins. 



The most prominent characteristic 

 of the family is their absolute depen- 

 dency. Thirty-three of the forty-eight 

 Hickory families living in the one town- 

 ship received township aid during the 

 fiscal year June 30, 1915 to June 30, 

 1916. Twenty- three of the direct de- 

 scendants of Happy, together with four 

 relatives in collateral lines, have been 

 in the county infirmary. An old record, 

 dated a short time after the infirmary 

 was opened in 1857, reads, "Hank 

 Hickory, his wife, and seven children 

 applied for admission. Were not al- 

 lowed to stay by the directors." The 

 first inmates of the county children's 

 home, when it was opened in 1878, 

 were three Hickory children transferred 

 from the county infirmary. Twenty 

 of the direct descendants of Happy 

 Hickory and twelve others in collateral 

 lines have been in the children's home. 



Members of the family also have 

 thieving and immoral habits which, 

 toge her with their habit of dependency, 

 make them most undesirable persons 

 to have at large. The cost of the 

 family to the community in public 

 support and private charity as wsll as 

 by petty thieving, the breaking down 

 of moral standards, and the spreading 

 of infection, especially trachoma and 

 venereal diseases, cannot be estimated. 

 And no doubt the adjacent counties, 

 where other Hickory families are living, 

 have to bear a like burden. 



SUMMARY 



Therefore, to summarize, 20 feeble- 

 minded persons from this county are 

 in the instittttion for the feeble-minded, 

 and 21 in other State institutions. 

 Thirty-two are in the county infirmary, 

 10 in the children's home, and 494 at 

 large in the county, making a total of 

 577 feeble-minded persons having a 

 legal residence in the county, which 

 is equivalent to 1.06%, or 10.6 persons 

 to every 1,000 of the population. 



297 



