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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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The next sib, VI 220, was born in 1859. At the age of 15, a truant from school and a wanderer in the streets, he was sent to the House of Refuge for vagrancy, where he remained 2 years. At 19 he was arrested for disorderly conduct and sent to jail for 30 days. Later in the same year he was sent to the penitentiary for a term of 3 months for assault and battery. At 19 he was arrested for stealing a gun and sentenced to 30 days in jail. Besides these the following records of conviction are found: at 19, stealing chickens, county jail; at 20, assault and battery, penitentiary, 6 months; at 36, assault, county jail, 7 days; at 37, assault and battery, guilty but discharged. He is a laborer and works rather steadily; most of his earnings, however, go into drink and most of his crimes have been committed while in an intoxicated condition. His first wife was confined in the poorhouse and then all trace of her is lost.

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VI 220 later married, consanguineously, VI 567, a mentally dull, ignorant, and inefficient woman. She bore nine children to him, only five of whom are living. The home of this family knows no comforts, the floors are bare, the many broken panes of the windows are stuffed with old rags, the few chairs are rickety and unsafe, and the food is both poorly cooked and lacking in nourishment. Their oldest girl, VII 242, did fair work in school for several years. She married at 16 and has one child. At 18 her husband left her for a short while and she attempted to commit suicide by taking poison. She still lives with her parents and is an unambitious, listless-appearing girl. Her younger brother, VII 244, now 16, a cross-eyed boy, was very dull in school and incapable of learning. At 14 he was in the third grade in school and was, at that time, twice arrested during his fourteenth year for grand larceny in the second degree, but the cases against him were not pressed. The next child in this group, VII 245, aged 14, is much more active mentally and physically, and is doing average work in school. He is mischievous, though not vicious. The two remaining children are still young and are in a frightfully neglected condition.

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VI 222, the next child of Abigail, born 1861, was in the poorhouse at 2, and at 13 was sent to the House of Refuge for disorderly conduct. At 20 he was arrested for petit larceny and sent to the penitentiary for 2 months. At 21 he was arrested for threatening bodily harm to a person. At 27 he was in the poorhouse for 1 year. Subsequently he was arrested several times and sentenced three times for intoxication and disorderly conduct. He is now intemperate, semi-industrious, inefficient, and ignorant. He has cohabited with several women, having by one a girl, VII 250, born in 1890. At 13 she was sent to a Rescue Home for disorderly conduct. At 14 she was sent to the penitentiary for prostitution. She is now a harlot, works at times in a cigar factory, is intemperate and a wanderer. She can read and write. She has been an inmate of houses of prostitution and has led many girls into a life of shame.

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The next child of Abigail and Benjamin, VI 224, was born in 1869. Deserted by his mother at 12, he was sent to an Orphans' Home, where he died.

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His brother, VI 226, was admitted to the Orphans' Home at the same time. He was later adopted into a good family in a small city in the Middle West. The Charity Organization Society records give good reports of him. A personal visit disclosed a man with a veneer of refinement, intermittently industrious, an unskilled laborer, and generally inefficient. Although uneducated, he seems desirous that his children should do well in school. He is temperate. Some years ago, after a liaison with a woman, he married a widow with several children. He had four children by this woman. Twin boys, now 9, are still in the first grade in school, and the teacher reports them mentally below par. A girl, aged 7, seems to be mentally more capable than the boys. The fourth is still a youngster. Several years ago this family received much help from the town. Their house is poorly furnished, but everything is neat and clean.

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The last in this group, VI 228, was born in 1860. Her criminal record gives a perfect picture of her history. She was arrested at 17 for intoxication and sent to the county jail for 5 days; at 34, disorderly conduct, county jail, 60 days; and also keeping disorderly house and disorderly conduct, penitentiary, 3 months; at 40, disorderly conduct, prostitution, county jail, 5 days; and at 42, disorderly, county jail, 10 days with sentence suspended. She has had seven illegitimate children, only one of whom, VII 256, survived infancy. Most of the others died of syphilis. VII 256, feeble-minded, incapable of learning in school, a harlot and syphilitic, died of neglect and pneumonia at the age of 28. This ends the description of the descendants of Abigail and Benjamin. Truly can it be said in general that this group "is weak mentally and morally."

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The last child of Amanda and Lucien was Alpha, V 68. At 17 he was convicted of burglary in the third degree and sent to the penitentiary for 2 1/3 years. At 19 he died, unmarried, and was buried by the town.

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