Daily AncestorIdiotic
Idiotic in an old census meant a person with an intellectual disability from birth or childhood, recorded in the disability column from 1840 to 1880.
In the 1800s idiotic was the official word, not an insult, for what is now called intellectual disability. It sat beside insane, which meant mental illness that came on later.
The 1870 instructions say idiocy was better determined by the common consent of the neighborhood than by any scientific measure, so the label reflects local opinion. The 1880 supplemental schedules asked more about each idiotic person, and later censuses used feeble-minded.
As seen in a recordDisability column of the 1850 to 1870 census
Tolliver, Wm. | 22 | M | W | Idiotic
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Idiotic." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/idiotic. Last checked 2026-10-03.