Hi Julie, It was part of a classification system in use in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot Disability In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation. In the early 1900s, Dr. Henry H. Goddard proposed a classification system for mental retardation based on the Binet-Simon concept of mental age. Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbeciles had a mental age of three to 7 years, and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years.[7] IQ, or intelligence quotient, is determined by dividing a person's mental age, as determined by standardized tests, by their actual age. The term "idiot" was used to refer to people having an IQ below 30.[8][9] In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation.[6] Bobbi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruggenthies, Julie" To: <nyc-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: 16 July, 2011 8:48 PM Subject: Re: [NYC-ROOTS] Varick >I am new to all this and wonder why it would say "idiotic"??? > Julie b > > -----Original Message----- > From: nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] > Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:49 AM > To: nyc-roots@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NYC-ROOTS] Varick > > > Margaret Varick, 66, is head of the household and is listed as 'idiotic'

To keep this in perspective: the classifications given on the census was the identification given by the census taker, not a medical person. The HOH was in all probability some stage of dementia because of the age. From her absence in the 1860 census it would appear she had died (or been committed) .The younger idiotic person is a big question mark. I cannot find Phineas Varick (the younger 'idiotic' person in the 1850 census)in the 1870 census. Could he have been committed? Big question is: what institution? Floreda -----Original Message----- From: nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bobbi Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 12:07 AM To: nyc-roots@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NYC-ROOTS] Varick Hi Julie, It was part of a classification system in use in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. See Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot Disability In 19th and early 20th century medicine and psychology, an "idiot" was a person with a very severe mental retardation. In the early 1900s, Dr. Henry H. Goddard proposed a classification system for mental retardation based on the Binet-Simon concept of mental age. Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbeciles had a mental age of three to 7 years, and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years.[7] IQ, or intelligence quotient, is determined by dividing a person's mental age, as determined by standardized tests, by their actual age. The term "idiot" was used to refer to people having an IQ below 30.[8][9] In current medical classification, these people are now said to have profound mental retardation.[6] Bobbi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruggenthies, Julie" To: <nyc-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: 16 July, 2011 8:48 PM Subject: Re: [NYC-ROOTS] Varick >I am new to all this and wonder why it would say "idiotic"??? > Julie b > > -----Original Message----- > From: nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nyc-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] > Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 6:49 AM > To: nyc-roots@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NYC-ROOTS] Varick > > > Margaret Varick, 66, is head of the household and is listed as 'idiotic' ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYC-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Floreda There's also the possibility that the "idiotic" family member died between 1860 and 1870. Some genetic conditions such as Huntington's disease or Prader-Willi syndrome cause severe mental retardation and individuals with the condition typically die young. If he had, in fact, been committed, it would be difficult to determine when and where, as there were many sanatoriums and asylums that closed and/or never kept formal records about what happened to their patients. (For example, I know of several private institutions in New England that were shut down by government in the early 1900s for abusive and unethical medical practices. Needless to say, no records remained.) On Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 4:03 AM, <tallygators@earthlink.net> wrote: > To keep this in perspective: the classifications given on the census was > the > identification given by the census taker, not a medical person. The HOH > was > in all probability some stage of dementia because of the age. From her > absence in the 1860 census it would appear she had died (or been committed) > .The younger idiotic person is a big question mark. I cannot find Phineas > Varick (the younger 'idiotic' person in the 1850 census)in the 1870 census. > Could he have been committed? Big question is: what institution? > Floreda