Intelligence Comes from the Mother’s Genes

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on November 29, 2025

Lillian and Levi Watkins, with their six children, on Christmas Day 1983.

My Mom and Dad divided their areas of responsibilities. Dad ran schools, colleges, and universities. Mom, who was a teacher by education and profession, ran our household.

Dad built institutions. Mom built the brainpower of their six children.

Mom’s August 16, 1939 teacher’s certificate from the state of Tennessee qualified her to teach “Education, French, Home Economics, Music, Science, including Biology, Chemistry, General Science, Physics, Social Science, including only Civics, History, and Sociology."

We were home schooled in these subjects long before we ever showed up in a public school classroom. Mom's home schooling supplemented our public school education and continued until we graduated from high school.

Mom always had a book in her hands and made sure we had one in ours, too. We read all of the time.

I always thought our intelligence came from both parents, each of whom was brilliant. I was wrong. Mom’s mind didn’t just raise us, it built us.

Science Confirms that Intelligence Came from Our Mother's Genes

In recent decades, various studies have identified a significant relationship between maternal genes and the development of higher brain function. According to a compelling 1984 scientific study by the University of Cambridge, a child’s intelligence is passed down almost entirely through his/her mother’s genes.

Women have two X chromosomes, while men only have one, which increases the likelihood of children inheriting intelligence-related genes from the mother. This study was one of the first to highlight this trend, and since then, other studies have supported the hypothesis. The scientific basis lies in the existence of “imprinted genes.” In the brain, maternal genes are more likely to activate where it matters most -- logic, memory, and learning.

So behind every sharp answer, curious question, and brilliant idea, there is a mother’s mental legacy echoing through it.

This doesn’t downplay fathers. It simply highlights a biological truth, that much of what makes a mind shine comes from the woman who first held it close.

She didn’t just nurture our brains. She built its blueprint.

Intelligence, it turns out, isn’t just taught. It’s inherited with love, wisdom, and quiet brilliance.

In our family's case, intelligence was birthed, nurtured, taught, loved, and protected by one of the most brilliant minds and best mothers in the annals of recorded history -- Lillian Bernice Varnado Watkins.