Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-16
PAST LEAVES MARK
IN VARIED STATURE
OF VIRGINIA PEOPLE
Prof. R. B. Bean Discovers
Influence of History in
Survey.
ANCESTRY AND LOCALITY
HAVE TELLING EFFECTS
Residents Along Coast Are Shorter
Than Those Living Back
in Western Hills.
RY THoMAs r. HENRY.


The story Of Virginia's pioneer days
is recapitulated in the present stature
Of its people, according to a report just
made to the American Physical Anthro-
pology Association by Prof. Robert d.
Bean Of the University CT Virginia.
DR.. Bean measured more than 5000
"old Virginians," individuals whose an
cestors had been in the State for at
least two generations. His subjects
were students at the university, mem
bers of the faculty and their wives,
students of Sweetbriar and Randolph
Macon Colleges, soldiers from Camp
Lee, business men and farmers around
Charlottesville, and the poor whites of
the Ragged Mountains. He compared
the height Of these groups with that
Of l,022 other population groups upon
which measurements have been taken.
These ranged from the shortest peo-
pie on earth, the African Negrillos, to a
group Of Scotch farmers Of which there
is scientific record.
He found that Virginia has far from
homogeneous population, as deter
mined by stature. Students from the
tidewater counties were decidedly
shorter than those from the western
and mountain counties. The average
height for all Virginians was 1877
centimeters. The average for the tide
water people was 1707. That for the
farmers around Charlottesville, repre-
senting different stock, was 1852
They were the tallest of all Virginians
measured. Thus he found q difference
of approximately an inch In both direc-
tons from the average.
Ancestry Is Reflected.
The differences, he said, may repre-
sent primarily the ancestry of the peo-
pie, Virginia having been settled by
two stocks entering from two directions
First came the English settlers who
established their villages along the
Chesapeake Bay coast and from there
spread along the rivers into the north
ern neck country and the Piedmont
region. They we're of medium stature
Then the Scotch-Irish. Germans and
Dutch from Pennsylvania and Mary
land came into the western sections.
Notable among these were the
Scoteh-Irish who left their imprint in
the stature Of their descendants wher-
ever they settled in the Eastern United
States. During the Revolution, DR.
Bean points out, the tallest men in the
colonies were those from the Western
Virginia counties, notably the soldiers
in Morgan's Rangers. Washington
Jefferson and Marshall, who came from
the original English stock also were ex-
ceptionally tall men, but represented
still another movement that has con-
tributed to the stature differentiations
Of different parts of the State.
BY the time of the Civil War, he
points out, the tallest men came from
Kentucky. The Scotch-Irish, in dis
advantageous economic competition
with the Germans. had pushed on west
ward in great numbers. But enough
remained to affect notably the stature
Of the present population. At the out
break Of the World War the frontier of
tallness had shifted West again, and
the tallest soldiers came from Missouri
and Alabama.
Sees Other Factors.
But DR. Bean explains in his report.
| the stature of the original settlers is
not the only factor that keeps the Tide
water people short. After the first set
| Elements they were afflicted with ma
| Iaria and dysentery, which seemed TO
! have selective. effect. eliminating the
| lean, lanky families and leaving those
). who we're shorter and stockier Be-
! sides the tall men seemed to be the
more restless. pushing westward into
1 the Piedmont. There is some indica-
| ton that proximity to the sea and
subsistence on sea food has a tendency
1 10 SIlO1tSI STATUTE bLTOuEn many SeneI~
atoms, probably through a selectiye
effect.
DR.. Bean found the business men Of
| Charlottesville measurahly shorter, on
the average, than the surrounding farm
owners and their clerks shorter than
the farm workers. This, he says, Is in
keeping with the phenomenon noted
elsewhere. The tail, restless pioneer
tends to develop the countryside and
leaves his mark so long as his descend
ants continue to till the soil. The
smaller, sedentary citizen follows him
and develops the towns The difference
remains even after many generations.
He found, he said, the children Of
the mountain areas the best developed
Of all Virginia children, despite the
hard conditions under which they are
supposed to live. Virginia children as
whole, especially the girls, he found,
grow more rapidly up to the age of IL
than those Of any other of the popula-
ton groups for which statistics are
available. Their growth, however, is
practically complete, so far as stature
Is concerned, at Is.
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