The racial and national ancestry of the twelve children whose records have been presented in preceding pages may be chiefly a condition arising from the population in which they were found. Comparison with results from other population areas may serve to check certain implications suggested herein. All these cases were found and studied in New York City and about half of them in the public schools.
Among the ancestors whose origins are mentioned, in the endeavor to go behind the simple statement of "American parents," the nationalities are given as Jewish, 13; British, 9; German, 2; French, 2. In most cases the ancestors are individually compound-- as Austrian-Jew, German-American, etc.
The activities of the more remote ancestors cover a wide range, from farming and small-town storekeeping to the learned professions, large business, and political activity. On the whole, the remote ancestors appear to have been fairly successful people, with the majority of them in the professions. No cases of mental deficiency or total incompetence are recorded among them.
A few of these children were from families in economic distress. These cases were largely instances in which the father was dead or incapacitated and the mother was struggling to carry on with slender resources. But on the whole, as in earlier cases cited from the literature of gifted children, the socio-economic status was moderate.
The father's occupations are in 10 of the 12 cases in the professions. They may be classified as:
Engineer 1 Lawyer 1 Army officer 1 College teacher 2 Accountant 2 Electrician 1 Journalist 2 Jeweler 1 Insurance 1
The occupations of the mothers, either before or after marriage, when stated, were:
Advertising 1 Teacher 2 Housewife 3 Secretary 2 Statistician 1 Dressmaker 1 Scientist (M.D.) 1
All but 2 of the fathers are known to be high school graduates; 5 went beyond this point in business or trade school; 4 are college graduates.
As for the mothers, all but 2 are high school graduates, and 5 hold college degrees.
Ages of parent at time of birth of child, when given, are as follows:
_Father_ _Mother_ Below 25 2 1 From 25-30 3 4 30-35 2 2 35-40[+] 3 1
Median age of fathers, 31; of mothers, 28.5.