Crimes of Immorality: Bastardy & Illegitimacy
Another concern that grew out of this era’s increased fear of immoral sexuality was the number of illegitimate children. As with cases of prostitution and abortion, the fear of moral reformers was that an increasing number of women were working outside of the house and the “protection” of their family and, as a result, living morally ambiguous lives (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 140-141). According to the Teasdale Vice Committee, the most common women accused of illegitimacy were domestic workers. The Committee gave multiple reasons as to why this may be, including the belief that domestic workers were lonely and sought attention, were less educated, and had little experience in the outside world and, as a result, were unable to avoid dangerous situations (1914, 137-141). The following quotes offer the public view of why domestic women were more likely to have illegitimate children.
"As far as domestics are concerned, they have few friends. Any sympathy extended to them is quickly accepted, and they are betrayed'' (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 143).
Dr. Sullivan
“They [domestics] have not been in society as much as others. They have not learned how to have abortion as much as others, and a great many domestics are higher minded than other girls as far as committing crimes are concerned...They are girls away from home and girls who do not know as much as other girls that may have the means of getting out of the pregnant condition...There are a great many girls who go away from home to become domestics. They are away from home influences and are imposed on. I do not believe that domestics more often become pregnant or that their morality is lower than that of any other class of girls. They less often have abortions” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 141).
Dr. R. G. Sayle
"I think the principal reason is that the average domestic is not well educated and is the easiest to prey upon...I think the one thing that is perhaps particularly to blame for it is the fact that the domestics have little recreation where they can meet on a common level or meet people” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 143).
Anonymous Woman
The Focus of Reformers
In addition to this, according to the Committee, Wisconsin also had relatively few women working in factories compared to other states, which explained why Wisconsin had fewer illegitimate births to factory workers than other states (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 140). However, the focus of reformers during this era wasn’t necessarily on unmarried mothers, but rather on the children born out-of-wedlock. As they did nothing wrong by simply existing, reformers saw children as deserving of help and pushed for legislation to help them (Brumberg 1984, 262). Out of the two circuit cases cases that concerned charges of bastardy, only one of the men was declared guilty. His punishment, however, reflects the concern reformers had for the well-being of these children, as he was required to provide child support (State of Wisconsin v. Henry Marcouiller, 1911). The protection of these innocent children was the real concern to reformers, not the mothers who were left behind.
Decrease in Cases
It is also important to note that, as the below graph shows, the vast majority of the cases concerning illegitimacy happened before 1910. In addition to this, the last recorded bastardy case was from 1911 (“Brown County Circuit Court Criminal Cases Database ca. 1890-1939," 2019). This is interesting because it suggests that either public concern over illegitimacy fell over the years or that these situations began to be handled privately. According to Joan Jacobs Brumberg, as wider employment options increased in the 1920s, the number of women employed as domestic workers also declined (1984, 263). Since domestic workers had the highest percentage of illegitimate births, it makes sense that as women left the domestic realm there were fewer reported cases. It is also possible, however, that we see a decrease in cases because some cases are missing from the Brown County Circuit Court Criminal Database.
