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The Jukes in 1915

Creator: Arthur H. Estabrook (author)
Date: 1916
Publisher: Carnegie Institution of Washington
Source: Available at selected libraries

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205  

The oldest, VI 207, was born in 1863. At the age of 11 she was raped by the man with whom her mother was living while her own father was in prison; she was sent to the House of Refuge for vagrancy. At that time she could neither read nor write. After leaving the House of Refuge, she became a harlot and was an inmate of houses of prostitution. She was arrested and sent to the penitentiary several times for disorderly conduct. She was neat in appearance, well-groomed, and of good physique and bearing. She died of gastric ulcer, inanition, and syphilis, in a road-house, at the age of 43. Her one child, VII 222, was also a prostitute, and died at the age of 25.

206  

Antonio's second child, VI 200, born 1864, was sent to the House of Refuge soon after his sister. At 16 he was still uncontrollable and did not get along well with any of the many people with whom he had been placed by the House of Refuge. In recent years he has saved a little money, but is spoken of as "below average mentally." He has a sullen, suspicious, and retiring nature, is married, and has one child.

207  

Antonio's third child, VI 210, was born in 1866. At 8 she was sent to the House of Refuge as a disorderly child. Here she remained one year. At 11 she was returned to the House of Refuge for disorderly conduct. She was in and out of the House of Refuge until she reached the age of 18, when she was finally discharged. She showed immoral tendencies during the whole of this period. At 18 she was sent to the penitentiary for disorderly conduct, and again in the next year was sent to the penitentiary for the same cause. She was always a harlot and died at the age of 29.

208  

The last child of Antonio and Ivilla, VI 211, born in 1871, was sent to the House of Refuge at the age of 11 for disorderly conduct and petit larceny. Here he was "poor in school work, ungovernable, and retained evil ideas." At the age of 16 he left the House of Refuge. At 22 he was sent to State prison for 1 year for burglary. In 1894, at the age of 23, he was sent to the penitentiary for 6 months for obstructing an officer. He later became "half-way respectable," and married a harlot who had had a bastard child before marriage. He disappeared some years ago and has not been heard of since.

209  

The third child of Amanda and Lucien was Abigail, V 67. She was "a harlot; recipient of outdoor relief; keeper of a brothel, and contriver of crime." She was spoken of as "average mentally but very weak morally;" trained her children to crime and harlotry. She was also very intemperate. She married her third cousin, Benjamin, IV 63, a grandson of Bell Juke. He received a soldier's pension and also received outdoor relief. He could neither read nor write, was "rather honest," and "better morally than mentally." He spent the last three years of his life in the poorhouse, where he died in 1890. This mating of the "average mentally but very weak morally" woman and the "better morally than mentally" man produced a progeny weak both mentally and morally.

210  

The oldest child, VI 215, was a harlot at the age of 28 and kept a brothel. She had four illegitimate children, only one of whom, a female, VII 227, grew up. This woman had one illegitimate child, now grown up, who, like her mother, is a prostitute. VI 215 then married an industrious though unskilled and ignorant man, VI 216. At this time the pair went away from the Juke region to a manufacturing city in Connecticut, where they raised three of the ten children born to them. They have always been poor. The husband is now dead, and the wife, at the age of 70, supports herself by washings. She is a great talker, is ignorant, has no breadth of ideas, and is of a defective make-up.

211  

The first of these three children, VII 231, did "average work in school," became a harlot, married a good, industrious man, VII 230, "settled down," and had three children, all of whom did well in school and bid fair to be good citizens. The next younger is VII 232, who was in grade 5 at 12 and, while she did good work in reading and spelling, was very poor in arithmetic and geography. She was a harlot before and after marriage. The youngest of the three who lived, VII 234, was born in 1880. An "average child in school," he showed a great deal of artistic ability and is now a skilled workman in silver. He is not inclined to work steadily, but when he does he earns good wages. He is very intemperate. He married an industrious though ignorant woman, VII 235, and had one child, VIII 88. This boy tries to do well in school, but is slow in grasping an idea and is not clever with his hands. He is a well-behaved boy.

212  

The second child of Abigail and Benjamin is VI 217. Born in 1857, she was in the poorhouse at 7; at 13, a harlot; at 15, forced to thieve by mother; at 17, county jail, witness, 90 days; and also at 17, sent to the House of Refuge for disorderly conduct and prostitution. Here she was "profane and incorrigible." At 25, she was finally discharged from the House of Refuge after several futile attempts to place her satisfactorily in private homes. She then returned to the man, VI 218, with whom she had been living before being sent to the House of Refuge. She is remembered now by her neighbors as "mentally of low grade and with no sex or other control." She was inefficient, ignorant, and died childless in 1910 of paralysis.

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