Why investigate your ancestors’ causes of death?
They died, and they didn’t really do anything after that, so why take an interest in how it happened? Well, it’s all part of their story. As we know, family history is all about the stories. The lives our ancestors led inevitably culminated in their death and their cause of death can be a major part of their story. They can also tell us a lot more about the circumstances of their life.
Some people like to know the causes of their ancestors’ deaths for their own personal medical history. It’s true this can be useful. However, it is difficult to get a feel for what ‘runs in the family’ when earlier generations died at a significantly younger age. Until the 20th century, most people didn’t have the ‘luxury’ of living long enough to develop lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Genetic predisposition to disease is probably better determined by having a DNA test done. Then download your raw data and run the results through Promethease to discover your disease risks.
Changes in causes of death over time
Once we get back to the early 20th century and beyond, there are really two main causes of death:
- Infection
- no antibiotics
- often poor sanitation
- lack of access to clean water
- the Industrial Revolution had led to crowded living conditions
- vaccinations were not as widespread or sophisticated
- According to the CDC, the top 3 causes of death in 1900 were pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB) and diarrhoea/enteritis.
- Accidents
- no workplace health and safety provisions in Victorian times and earlier (workers were expendable and easily replaced)
- fast-moving machinery did not have guards or emergency stop buttons as they would today
- explosions were not infrequent
- As the Industrial Revolution progressed, new machinery did not always mix well with human failings. A member of my family tree well known for his clumsiness managed to die after being run over by Stevenson’s Rocket. Therefore he became the first person to die in a railway accident! Not just a story, but a whole book has come out of that tale…
Where can you find the causes of death for your ancestors?
The most reliable source of the cause of death is the death certificate. It is also the most accessible and formal source containing the doctor’s direct diagnosis. The contents of death certificates vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and some contain more useful information than others. However, they all contain the cause of death where it is known. Sometimes the death certificate will point you to an inquest. If the inquest files survive for your ancestor’s case, these can be fascinating. They will not only give a fuller description of the cause of death but often the circumstances surrounding it. Therefore I heartily recommend tracking them down. Of course inquests were the exception rather than the rule and only done when the death was unusual or suspicious.
Other potential sources of causes of death include burial registers and occasionally memorial inscriptions. These causes are supplied by a family member, so may not be as accurate as the death certificate (or a less technical term or a euphemism may be used).
Newspapers can also be a useful source of details around a death. Was your ancestor was well known in the community? Look for an obituary. Was there a link between your ancestor and an epidemic (for example, the ‘Spanish flu’ of 1918) or an event (such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, a factory explosion or a mine collapse)? Your ancestor may or may not be mentioned by name in the newspaper coverage of these incidents, but at the very least you get some further background about what happened.
Old medical terminology (Wait…this cause of death is something I’ve never heard of…)
Here is a list of some of the more common archaic names for diseases you might find, along with the modern name you may be more familiar with.
- Ague – Malaria
- Apoplexy – Stroke
- Bilious fever – Typhoid fever
- Brain fever – Meningitis
- Breakbone – Dengue fever
- Bright’s Disease – Kidney disease
- Camp fever – Typhus
- Childbed fever – Puerperal fever
- Chincough – Whooping Cough
- Confinement – Puerperal fever
- Consumption – Tuberculosis
- Decline – Tuberculosis
- Dropsy – Oedema (swelling), usually from congestive heart failure or kidney disease
- Dropsy of brain – Encephalitis
- Enteric fever – Typhoid fever
- Falling sickness – Epilepsy
- French Pox – Syphilis
- General paralysis – Tertiary syphilis
- Inanition – Starvation
- Infantile paralysis – Polio
- King’s Evil– Tuberculosis of lymph glands
- Le Grippe – Influenza
- Lockjaw – Tetanus
- Lung fever – Pneumonia
- Marasmus – Malnutrition
- Mortification – Gangrene
- Natural decay – Old age
- Phthisis – Tuberculosis
- Pott’s Disease– Tuberculosis of spine
- Purpura – Puerperal fever
- Putrid fever – Diptheria
- Quinsy – Tonsillitis
- Scrofula– Tuberculosis of lymph glands
- Softening of the brain – Dementia
- The Grip – Influenza
- The Pox – Smallpox (usually)
- Winter fever – Pneumonia
What is the most unusual cause of death you’ve found in your family tree? Comment below!