Daily AncestorDeaf and dumb
Deaf and dumb in a census meant a person who could neither hear nor speak, counted from 1830 and written opposite the name from 1850.
Dumb here means unable to speak, not lacking intelligence. The 1830 and 1840 censuses counted deaf and dumb persons by age group; from 1850 the words were written opposite the person's name.
The 1860 instructions counted someone born deaf or deafened before learning to speak. In 1870 deafness alone, without loss of speech, was not to be reported, and in 1910 the code was DD. The entry can lead to records of a state school for the deaf.
As seen in a recordDisability column of the 1850 to 1870 census
Halloran, Thos. | 17 | M | W | Deaf and dumb
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Deaf and dumb." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/deaf-and-dumb. Last checked 2026-10-03.