Pedigree of 'Old Sal'

Negative Eugenics in America: pedigree of the Kallikaks, descendants of "Old Sal"

Henry Goddard (1966 - 1957) traced the occurrence of what he considered socially undesirable traits, including feeble-mindedness, sexual immorality, alcoholism, insanity, criminality, tuberculosis (!), 'hard to manage in school,' etc in the descendants of "Old Sal," a grand-daughter of the founder of the Kallikak line. Goddard found that many of these traits "run in families," recurring over several generation, as might be expected for a trait due to a simple Mendelian dominant allele. Goddard concluded therefore that 'feeble-mindedness' ["F" as shown in this pedigree] was in fact innate and hereditary. Goddard did not consider the alternative possibility of familiality, that members of a family are similar because they share the same environment. Here, the Kallikak families show chronically limited education, poor nutrition, and lack of social means. Assignments of 'feeble-mindedness' were made by Goddard's assistants, often after only a few minutes observation, or based on hearsay accounts about ancestors or absent family members.