milkymama
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- Dec 16, 2008
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I think it is interesting that there was a home for what was then termed the “feeble minded” in Delaware County, PA. In fact, it still exists, although modernized to current treatment standards and protocols. The females were likely sterilized against their will (assuming PA followed suit of other states during those times and practiced eugenics) eventually but until that occurred, could one of them have been raped while in the facility and the baby handed off to an “adopter”? Scanning through census records and death records for residents of this facility, I found at least one instance where the condition causing the “feeble mindedness” appeared to be genetic as multiple children in a family unit (not all of the children, but most of them) ended up in the institution for life. My long winded point being that, if a woman with a genetically inheritable condition was impregnated and forced to give up her child, that child may have been “feeble minded” as well. The chances are even higher if the father was another patient in the facility and also had a genetic condition. Just some thoughts I had as I was researching the Delaware Co, PA area and history.
Edited to fix typo
Edited to fix typo