Daily AncestorWd
Wd in the marital status column of the 1900 to 1920 census means widowed, for a man or a woman.
From 1900, enumerators recorded marital status with letters: S single, M married, Wd widowed and D divorced. Wd was used for widowers as well as widows.
A Wd entry suggests a spouse died before the census day, so search death and burial records in the years before. Treat it as a lead, not proof of the date.
As seen in a recordLine of the 1900 census
Hill, Mary, Mother, F, W, 67, Wd
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Wd." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/census-wd. Last checked 2026-10-01.