An incest case in an early 20th-century rural community

Appeals court records, case files, & newspaper accounts are used to examine how a wealthy farmer was accused & convicted of incest with his daughters in early twentieth-century rural Ill. The family had many characteristics similar to those of incest families studied today: parental substance abuse, physical dislocation, illness & death of the mother, physical & emotional isolation from relatives & neighbors, & violence running as a theme through the family's life. During the trials, both the defense & the prosecution relied on stereotypes about gender, sexual morality, class, & family dynamics to prove their cases. 28 References. AA