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Indiana University Studies 
early days they were the mighty hunters who, instead of 
establishing permanent homes in the fertile valleys, preferred 
the roving life of a trapper. They made up a large portion 
of the boisterous part of society. They were the ones who 
always had a little whiskey readily accessible, they were the 
reckless men in all ways, and the women furnished the loose 
characters of the community. When the country became bet- 
ter settled and it was no longer possible for them to make 
their living in the wild rough way in which they were accus- 
tomed, it was necessary to take up a more or less settled mode 
of living. It was then that they entered the broken hilly land 
which was not yet claimed. Many of the occupants of these 
districts did not take up claims but squatted on the land. There 
they were more or less free from the interference of the law, 
and among them grew up illicit whiskey stills, bands of horse- 
thieves, and counterfeiting dens. 
There came into the county at the same time as these 
families, men and women who have founded lines of descend- 
ants quite different from those just described. It seems that 
even in the early times there was as much difference between 
the family groups as there is at the present time. In the early 
histories where we have the account of the other group which 
spent most of its time hunting and fishing, we also have the 
account of the superior group. We read of a man who founded 
a church ; another leader in the community gave the land for 
a schoolhouse and with the help of others erected the build- 
ing; a few of the men started lines of business which have 
grown into the principal industries of the county at the pres- 
ent time; and in other places we read of how these families 
sent their sons east for the school advantages which at that 
time were impossible to obtain in Indiana. 
In no place is there a record of intermarriage between 
these two groups of settlers. In the early times when living 
conditions were not settled, and it was necessary for people 
to be in much closer touch than it now is, these 2 groups of 
pioneers existed side by side. During the years they have 
been steadily diverging, until now they have nothing in com- 
mon, and one group is distinctly inferior to the other. 
(2) The second cause of the great amount of mental defect 
in the unprogressive districts lies in the fact that after being 
driven into the hills, these families have intermarried, thus 
