The Jukes and Jonathan Edwards: A Tale of Family Legacies

So this guy in 1870 was helping out in a prison.

He found that 42 inmates all traced back to the same great-great-grandfather.

So he had to figure out what happened.

So he dove in and did a deep study.

He found that it traced all the way back to a guy in New York named Max Jukes.

He was a bum, a thug, and a womanizer.

He had 11 kids with a bunch of different women and a crazy life.

And his stats over the five generations are insane.

310 people died as paupers.

400 drunks, 190 prostitutes, 150 more criminals, and 7 murderers.

But wait, it gets even crazier.

Then he compared it to another family at the exact same time.

His name was Jonathan Edwards.

Also had almost a dozen kids.

And he lived right near him.

He was a teacher, he was a pastor.

And here is their next five generations.

13 college presidents, 65 college professors, 75 military leaders, 80 public servants,

60 authors, 60 doctors, 30 judges, 100 more pastors, 100 lawyers, 3 U.S. senators, and a U.S. vice president.

Parents do not realize that the decisions that they make today have ripple effects for generations to come.

It's more about what we leave in our kids than to them.