The Genius Factory
I just finished reading The Genius Factory by David Plotz the other day. In brief, it is a summary of a sperm bank that tried to sell sperm from Nobel Prize winners and "geniuses". The author connected a number of the children with their anonymous donors.
I think that the book has some interesting relevancy to genealogy. Or, not so much the book itself, but the topics it covers. For example, there is a chapter devoted to eugenics, which was a huge movement in the early part of the 1900s Basically, eugenics is the belief in engineering "better" human beings through careful breeding. In its worst moments eugenics was a cover for racism and the castration of individuals with disabilities (or murder - see Hitler). "Positive" eugenics focused more on the selection of "fitter families" that could pass on their traits of intelligence or physical attributes to their children. I actually think there is some connection between members of my family and the eugenics movement, which I am exploring, so more on that in another post.
The concept of sperm banks is also an interesting dilemma for family historians. Many of the children conceived by sperm banks were never told. Especially early on, children who were conceived were usually born to couples where the husband was infertile, and then raised as though they were his biological children. Now, things tend to be a little different and banks are working more with lesbians and single women. Still, I think this is an interesting issue.
With the advent of genealogy through DNA, anyone in the future may have difficulty connecting descendants. Siblings may have had different donors. And although the dad might be on the birth certificate and in other documentary records, his DNA won't be a match to his kids' DNA. As someone once said about genealogy, "all it takes is one milkman". This, of course, has always been true. It is definitely one of the limitations of genealogy with or without DNA testing.
Jess's family has an ancestor who was adopted in the mid-1800s (Ella Shaw). She was adopted into the Mikeworth family, appearing with them in every census, beginning when she was just 5 years old. She was born in 1863 in Illinois, and from her death certificate, it seems her father's name was Samuel. Samuel Shaw is just too common a name for me to be able to identify him based on that. However, it is an interesting conundrum to think about. I'm not sure whether her birth family is necessarily all that important. After all, the people who raised her were almost certainly more important to her. Nonetheless, she maintained her birth name, staying a Shaw until she was married (to Lewis Bowman). I could probably track down her father with a little more effort, but am uncertain what to do about this adoption/birth family business. Do I research the Mikeworth family? How important is the biological connection?
This bears an interesting relationship to our nuclear family, where Jess is not Asa's biological mother. Nonetheless, she is clearly his mother, and I felt it was equally important for me to investigate her family tree (although I fully expect him to have NO interest in these topics).
I think that the book has some interesting relevancy to genealogy. Or, not so much the book itself, but the topics it covers. For example, there is a chapter devoted to eugenics, which was a huge movement in the early part of the 1900s Basically, eugenics is the belief in engineering "better" human beings through careful breeding. In its worst moments eugenics was a cover for racism and the castration of individuals with disabilities (or murder - see Hitler). "Positive" eugenics focused more on the selection of "fitter families" that could pass on their traits of intelligence or physical attributes to their children. I actually think there is some connection between members of my family and the eugenics movement, which I am exploring, so more on that in another post.
The concept of sperm banks is also an interesting dilemma for family historians. Many of the children conceived by sperm banks were never told. Especially early on, children who were conceived were usually born to couples where the husband was infertile, and then raised as though they were his biological children. Now, things tend to be a little different and banks are working more with lesbians and single women. Still, I think this is an interesting issue.
With the advent of genealogy through DNA, anyone in the future may have difficulty connecting descendants. Siblings may have had different donors. And although the dad might be on the birth certificate and in other documentary records, his DNA won't be a match to his kids' DNA. As someone once said about genealogy, "all it takes is one milkman". This, of course, has always been true. It is definitely one of the limitations of genealogy with or without DNA testing.
Jess's family has an ancestor who was adopted in the mid-1800s (Ella Shaw). She was adopted into the Mikeworth family, appearing with them in every census, beginning when she was just 5 years old. She was born in 1863 in Illinois, and from her death certificate, it seems her father's name was Samuel. Samuel Shaw is just too common a name for me to be able to identify him based on that. However, it is an interesting conundrum to think about. I'm not sure whether her birth family is necessarily all that important. After all, the people who raised her were almost certainly more important to her. Nonetheless, she maintained her birth name, staying a Shaw until she was married (to Lewis Bowman). I could probably track down her father with a little more effort, but am uncertain what to do about this adoption/birth family business. Do I research the Mikeworth family? How important is the biological connection?
This bears an interesting relationship to our nuclear family, where Jess is not Asa's biological mother. Nonetheless, she is clearly his mother, and I felt it was equally important for me to investigate her family tree (although I fully expect him to have NO interest in these topics).
Labels: books, family definitions, genealogy
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