Blamed and Institutionalized for Incest and Rape
This pedigree describes a young woman who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children when she was 18. Her background, as reported, appears dire. Of her father, the social worker wrote, "Deserted three times. Sex offender with own children. Alcoholic." Lacking any formal education, the young woman had been in and out of local and state institutions throughout her childhood, including the town poor house the Vermont Industrial School, and the Home for Friendless Women, where she bore a child who died in infancy.
The unfortunate child described in this pedigree was committed first to the Vermont Industrial School, and then to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children, after giving birth to an illegitimate child in 1921 when she was 15 years old. The pedigree alleges that her father ran "a house of ill fame" and used the girl "for immoral purposes." The pedigree assigns her the defect of "Sex pervert."
Several relatives of this young woman, who was 23 at the time of her commitment, were also in state institutions. Her father was in prison and her mother and one sibling were in the state hospital. Four of her siblings were in the Vermont Industrial School in Vergennes. Despite having a "normal" IQ, this young woman was placed at the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1922 because of the following alleged defects: "Sex pervert. Illegitimate child by father."
This pedigree describes a woman who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1922 when she was 22 years old. Her family was the subject of a broader family pedigree. According to the eugenic fieldworker, sexual deviance, including adultery, incest, and illegitimacy, was rife among this young woman's parents and siblings. She herself is listed as an "imbecile" and a "sex delinquent." The institution began accepting women of childbearing age in 1919, making its name, The Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children, a bit of a misnomer.
The girl described in this pedigree was 16 years old when she was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1922. She had already given birth to two children. Her defect is stated to be "Two illegitimate children; sex." Under "Additional Information," the social worker stated, "It is believed that ____'s own father was the father of her child and also the child of ____'s older sister."
This brief (and chillingly dispassionate) pedigree describes an inmate who was committed to the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children in 1920, when she was 14 years old. The "Defects" attributed to her are horrifying: "Sex; Venereal, Syphilis and Gonorrhea; Raped by three men."