Strange Cause of Death

[Aulus]

I've got chronic alcoholism.  Well, not personally.  Though some might disagree.  Great-great-grandmother, died in the 1890s.  Her grandfather was a farmer and innkeeper and her father was a publican.  These days, the connection would be obvious.

I was in the records office earlier this week looking through the records for Colne St Bartholomew.  In the late 1700s. they started putting in cause of death  (actually the column's simply headed "disease"), and there are lots of "decline", "old age", "child-bed", but every now and then you see smallpox ravaging through the township, and then there are the unusual ones - I saw at least two young children who "burned to death"; one young woman who fell of the bridge and drowned in the stream.  There was also one, who died of old age: but at the ripe old age of 102, in the late 1780s, and buried with full military honours.

[acceber]

So far mine is John Sellick, who according to the family gravestone in Portbury (Somerset) churchyard, states that he "drowned on his passage back from the West Indies." This was in 1831 and he was 30 and we still haven't found out why he was in the West Indies in the first place, maybe working for a plantation owner?

The other rumour is that my Grt Grandfather's brother, George Sellick, died by jumping out of a window during a delirious spell whilst suffering from either pneumonia or TB in 1918. The death cert is in the post to confirm this one!

acceber

[andrewalston]

One of my relatives died in 1788 aged 17. The cause of death in the register is

    Casually poisoned

which tells us something about the way that the meanings of words have changed over the centuries.

My tree also contains two children who drowned, one aged 6, the other just 18 months.

I've just done a quick count for the Croston burials from www.lan-opc.org.uk:-

Fever: 444
Consumption: 353
Old Age: 190
Small Pox: 135
Decline: 126
Convulsions: 56
Whooping cough: 39
Child bed: 38
Disorder of the throat: 35
Dropsy: 35
Fits: 32
Apoplexy: 25
Drowned: 22
Palsy: 21
Died Suddenly: 21
Measles: 16
Never well: 14
Gravel: 11
Decay: 10
Complication of disorders: 10
Gripes: 6
Cancer: 5
Jaundice: 4
Asthma: 3
Falls: 3
Visitation of God: 3
Excessive drinking: 2
Intemperance: 2
St. Anthony's Fire: 1

What we think of today as non-threatening conditions were very serious for our ancestors. What we think of as serious problems like cancer were rare then, probably because other diseases hit them first. Smallpox, thankfully eradicated now, took nearly as many as old age.

These records also tell us that religion is nearly as dangerous as drink. 

St. Anthony's Fire, by the way, is poisoning by ergot, a mould which can grow on stored grain.

[amanda t]

The grandfather of a friend of mine had a death certificate which read:
 "shot himself after shooting his wife"
the grandmother's death certificate read:
 "shot by husband whilst in a state of insanity" 



My great grandmother died of "specific disease" in 1920. Researching this with various medics they came to the conclusion that this was "syphilis", apparently the incidence of veneral disease increased substantially after wars! 



Amanda

[Windsor87]

I was quite shocked to find that my family history software has decided that I'm dead.

The report section reads:

Michael A. W. Strachan was born 28th July 1987 in Fraserburgh. He died.

None of my other living relitives are recorded as having died. Perhaps it's an omen...

[lizdb]

Never trust computers!

And there's the evidence!

[hilbury]

I was quite shocked to find that my family history software has decided that I'm dead.

The report section reads:

Michael A. W. Strachan was born 28th July 1987 in Fraserburgh. He died.

None of my other living relitives are recorded as having died. Perhaps it's an omen...

Oh,  that's nasty. I guess it will be true eventually.

Your software can see something in the 'Death' area of your entry, have you tried clicking in that area and deleting even if you can't see anything?

[lilirose03]

The strangest one I have is my g-grandfather who, according to his death certificate, died from 'shock and haemorrhage due to fractured pelvis and skull - fell from ladder to street pavement when cleaning windows - accidental', occupation 'window cleaner', AGE 79!

[mtp123]

Best I can remember  " struck down by the hand of God and nothing else".