Hello In some census records there is a box ticked to show this and it was used to note dependency. In other words this was a person who was never going to be productive but always be dependent. Look at Silas's age compared to his brothers and sisters - is he the youngest and his parents are older? Perhaps he was a mongoloid baby, which sometimes happens with older Mothers. If he is in the middle of many children, he may have had a difficult birth. Sounds so harsh now, but would simply mean that Silas was retarded. Gaila