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The Tribe Of Ishmael: A Study In Social Degradation

Creator: Oscar M'Culloch (author)
Date: 1888
Publication: Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction
Source: Available at selected libraries

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The studies of Ray Lankaster into "Degeneration" are not only interesting to the student of physical science, but suggestive to the student of social science.

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He takes a minute organism which is found attached to the body of the hermit crab. It has a kidney-bean-shaped body, with a bunch of rootlike processes through which it sucks the living tissues of the crab. It is known as the Sacculina. It is a crustacean which has left the free, independent life common to its family, and is living as a parasite, or pauper. The young have the Nauplius form belonging to all Crustacea: it is a free swimmer. But very soon after birth a change comes over it. It attaches itself to the crab, loses the characteristics of the higher class, and becomes degraded in form and function. An irresistible hereditary tendency seizes upon it, and it succumbs. A hereditary tendency I say, because some remote ancestor left its independent, self-helpful life, and began a parasitic, or pauper, life. Not using its organs for self-help, they one by one have disappeared, -- legs and other members, -- until there is left a shapeless mass, with only the stomach and organs of reproduction left. This tendency to parasitism was transmitted to its descendants, until there is set up an irresistible hereditary tendency; and the Sacculina stands in nature as a type of degradation through parasitism, or pauperism.

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I propose to trace the history of similar degradation in man. It is no pleasant study, but it may be relied upon as fact. It is no isolated case. In all probability, similar study would show similar results in any of our States. It resembles the study of Dr. Dugdale into the Jukes, and was suggested by that. It extends, however, over a larger field, comprising over two hundred and fifty known families, thirty of which have been taken out as typical cases, and diagramed here. The name, "the tribe of Ishmael," is given because that is the name of the central, the oldest, and the most widely ramified family.

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In the late fall of 1877, I visited a case of extreme destitution. There were gathered in one room, without fire, an old blind woman, a man, his wife and one child, his sister and two children. A half-bed was all the furnishing. No chair, table, or cooking utensils. I provided for their immediate wants, and then looked into the records of the township trustee. I found that I had touched a family known as the Ishmaels, which had a pauper history of several generations, and so intermarried with others as to form a pauper ganglion of several hundreds. At the Conference at Cleveland, I reported this case. The investigations have since been extended. Year by year the record has grown. Historical data of two hundred and fifty families have been gathered, and on the accompanying diagram thirty families are traced. This diagram is prepared by Mrs. Kate F. Parker, registrar of the Charity Organization Society, and Mr. Frank Wright, detailed by the county commissioners to assist in the prosecution of this investigation. The number of families here studied is thirty. Of these, only two are known before 1840. They are found here at that time.

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The central family -- that which gives its name to the tribe of Ishmael -- first appears in Indianapolis about 1840. The original family stem, of which we have scant records as far back as 1790, is then in Kentucky, having come from Maryland, through Pennsylvania. Ben Ishmael had eight children, -- five sons and three daughters. Some of the descendants are now living in Kentucky, and are prosperous, well-regarded citizens. One son named John married a half-breed woman, and came into Marion County, Indiana, about 1840. He was diseased, and could go no further. He had seven children, of whom two were left in Kentucky, one is lost sight of, and one remained unmarried. The remaining three sons married three sisters from a pauper family named Smith. These had children, of whom fourteen lived; and thirteen raised families, having sixty children, of whom thirty are now living in the fifth generation.

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Since 1840, this family has had a pauper record. They have been in the almshouse, the House of Refuge, the Woman's Reformatory, the penitentiaries, and have received continuous aid from the township. They are intermarried with the other members of this group, as you may see by the marriage lines, and with two hundred and fifty other families. In this family history are murders, a large number of illegitimacies and of prostitutes. They are generally diseased. The children die young. They live by petty stealing, begging, ash-gathering. In summer they "gypsy," or travel in wagons east or west. We hear of them in Illinois about Decatur, and in Ohio about Columbus. In the fall they return. They have been known to live in hollow trees on the river-bottoms or in empty houses. Strangely enough, they are not intemperate.

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In this sketch, three things will be evident: First, the wandering blood from the half-breed mother, in the second generation the poison and the passion that probably came with her. Second, the licentiousness which characterizes all the men and women, and the diseased and physically weakened condition. From this result mental weakness, general incapacity, and unfitness for hard work. And, third, this condition is met by the benevolent public with almost unlimited public and private aid, thus encouraging them in this idle, wandering life, and in the propagation of similarly disposed children.

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