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So, do you have any 3-D relatives? That's genealogy-speak for defective, dependent or delinquent.

You might be thinking your shiftless brother-in-law or your black sheep uncle might qualify as 3-D kin. Actually, 3-D relatives had to have been alive in 1880 and enumerated on the special Defective, Dependent and Delinquent census schedule.

When the census-takers fanned out across the country in June of 1880 to count the population, they also recorded information on special forms about people who fell under the 3-D umbrella.

The 3-D forms had seven different categories: insane, idiots, deaf-mutes, blind, homeless children, paupers and prisoners.

Even back in the 19th century, the sting of political correctness vexed the special agent in charge of the 3-D schedules. Defending the labels attached to the various 3-D classes, he noted in his final report that he would have gladly used less offensive and more judicious classifications, but he couldn't think of any better terms and no one had suggested any better ones.

So, how do you know if one of your ancestors met the dubious qualifications to be a 3-D candidate? Start by looking closely at the general population schedule.

There are a series of questions regarding health. Look for little slash marks in these columns; a slash mark under "Blind," for example, means you should track down the 3-D form for the blind.

On the blind form, you'll learn how old the person was when he or she went blind, the cause of the blindness, and whether the person attended any special institutions for the blind.

One 40-year-old Iowa man went blind at age 37 from "billious fever," and he had resided at an institution for the blind at Council Bluff for six months. Since this man lived in a state-run poor house, he was also recorded on the pauper form.

This man, then, was listed three times in the 1880 census: on the general population schedule, on the blind form and on the pauper form. Each separate form revealed various details about him.

Tracing your jailbird ancestors might be a little trickier. Sometimes family members didn't bother mentioning to the census-taker that a relative happened to be away serving a 30-day sentence in jail for drunkenness.

His name might appear with the family just as if all was normal. However, he was counted again when the census-taker ambled into the county jail. Plus, more details were recorded about him and his crime on the 3-D form.

Finding 3-D forms can be a bit of a challenge. The government transferred the original census records back to the states that were willing to take them. So, some 1880 3-D schedules are at state libraries or archives.

Others are at the DAR Library; some are available through the National Archives; some microfilms are at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City; and some microfilms are at the Allen County Public Library in Indiana.

Search for nonpopulation schedules under the Defective, Dependent and Delinquent heading. These forms were only used for the 1880 census.