Small Notebook - NGS / Indiana

Bates, Alan, et al. "Falls Cities Ferries: A Note," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XCV, No. 3, Sept. 1999.

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Carter, James. Diseases & Death in the Nineteenth Century: A Genealogical Perspective, National Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 4, Dec. 1988.

Abstract: The study of diseases and causes of death yields important findings for the genealogist. Death certificates (limited in number prior to the twentieth century) contain useful information for identifying ancestors; the mortality schedules of several nineteenth-century federal censuses provide the month and cause of death; and church registers, within some denominations, yield some information on deaths of members. However, having a knowledge of the meanings of variou medical terms used in these records is also of interest to genealogical researchers. Information obtained in this manner not only better informs them about their forebears but also could lead to the detection of a familial or inherited disease in specific familes. To help the genealogist in the study of medically oriented records, this article treats three areas. First, a brief history of medicine and the medical profession during the nineteenth century is

presented, including a discussion of the most-prevalent diseased state - fever.  Next, the mortality schedules are discussed - including their history, their location, and the information they contain. Finally, there is offered a glossary of medical terms from the past century which genealogists will most frequently encounter. 

• 1721 - smallpox inoculation introduced, not swapped out for cow pox vaccination until 1798, safer, more effective. 
• 1809 - Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first successful gynecologic surgery (w/o anesthesia), Danville, KY
• 1816 - stethoscope invented in France
• 1840 - germ theory re: communicable diseases statement published . . . 1847 used effectively in Hungary, but not widely accepted. 
• 1846 - ether anesthesia introduced in Charlton, MA
• 1850s - Florence Nightingale creates nursing corps in Crimean War
• 1865 - antiseptic first used in wounds and 1867 in surgery
• 1940s - penicillin "miracle drug" 

Medical Profession in US composed of Three Groups -

• those who had studied at medical schools of the day - Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Lexington, KY
• apprentices to established physicians - generally 3 years of  "reading medicine" then open own practice
• "I've decided I'm a doctor" without any special training. 

Treatments - mid-19th century - 

• venesection / phlebotomy (drawing blood)
• cupping (removal of blood by means of applying cupping glass
• leeches
• making blisters
• inducing sweating
• administering emetics - vomiting
• purgatives - enemas

Fever - symptom and diseased state

• 1830s classified as intermittent, remittent, continued, congestive - no idea of causes, assumed miasmata (poisonous vapors)
• Intermittent fever stages - cold w/ chills; hot; sweating and return to normal temperature
• 24 hour intervals between fevers called quotidian ague
• 48 hour intervals - tertian ague
• 72 hour intervals - quartan ague
• 24, 48, 72  hour fevers are characteristic of malaria
• Remittent fever - hot stage did not end, continued and grew more intense for a much longer length of time, abating or remitting for only a few hours and rising again - yellow fever / bilious fever
• Continuous fever - no intermission, constant level of temperature - typhus and typhoid 
• Congestive fever - deep internal congestion, great oppression of the powers of life - generally where malaria was prevalent. Autoposies revealed blood in organs. 

Mortality Schedules - 1850-1900 census include a mortality census; also included in territorial / state censuses 1885 - Colorado, Dakota, Florida, Nebraska, New Mexico/Arizona.  . . . Content changed from census to census. 

• 1850 - name, age, sex, where born, month died, cause of death
• 1880 / 1885 - also included parents state born
• methodology for collection sketchy at best
• check originals, may be transcription errors

Medical Terms & Definitions 

• abscess - localized collection of pus buried in tissues / organs / confined spaces, with swelling and inflammation
• Addison's disease - severe weakness, low blood pressure, bronzed coloration of skin, decreased secretion of cortisol from adrenal gland
• ague - malarial or intermittent fever . . . 
• ague-cake - enlargement of spleen resulting from malaria
• anasarca - generalized massive dropsy, which see
• aphthae - see thrush
• aphthous stomatitis - see canker
• ascites - see dropsy
• asthenia - see debility
• bilious fever - intestinal / malarial fevers - see typhus
• biliousness - nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, constitpation
• boil - abscess of skin / painful circumscribed inflammation of skin or a hair follicle
• brain fever - see meningitis, typhus
• bronchial asthma - allergic breathing disorder, spams of bronchial tubes, wheezing, difficulty in breathing out, coughing, tightness of ches
• camp fever - see typhus
• cancer - malignant, invasive growth, tumor, tending to recur
• cancrom oris - eroding ulcer of cheek / lip proceeding to sloughing - poor hygiene. Often with fever and fatal within days - gangrene of lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate, tongue and even the face, loss of teeth and fetid saliva.
• canker - ulcerous sore of mouth & lips not considered fatal now
• carcinoma - see cancer
• catarrh - inflammation of mucous membrane - air passages of head / throat with discharge, cough, thirst, lassitude, fever, watery eyes
• bronchial catarrh - bronchitis
• suffocatvie catarrh - croup
• urethral catarrh - gleet
• vaginal catarrh - leukorrhea
• epidemic catarrh - influenza
• childbirth - high mortality rate
• cholera - acute, infectious disease, profuse diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, vibrio cholerae acts on small intestine to create large amounts of flued. Major US outbreaks 1832, 1849, 1866. 
• cholera infantum - noncontagious diarrhea of children, occurring in summer / fall, death frequently occurred in 3 - 5 days. Also called summer complaint, weaning brash, water gripes, choleric fever of children, cholera morbus
• chorea - nervous system diseases - jerky movements chiefly of the face and extremities, aka St. Vitus' dance
• chronic - persisting over long period of time - level of disease that may not actually be named in the record
• colic - paroxysmal pain in abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic is benign during first three months.
• congestion - excessive / abnormal accumulation of blood / fluid in a body part
• consumption - wasting away of body - especially tuberculosis, aka marasmus, phthisis
• convulsions - severe contortion of body caused by violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk & head, see epilepsy
• coryza - see catarrh
• croup - any obstructive condition of larynx (voice box) or trachea (windpipe), hoarse, barking cough, difficult breathing, aka roup, hives, choak, stuffing, rising of the lights
• debility - abnormal weakness / feebleness / decay of strength aka asthenia
• diphtheria - infectious disease of upper respiratory tract (throat)
• dropsy - contraction of hydroposy. Edema, presence of abnormally large amounts of fluid in intercellular tissue spaces / cavities. 
• abdominal dropsy - ascites
• brain dropsy - hydorcephalus
• chest dropsy - hydrothorax
• cardiac dropsy - symptom of disease of heart from obstruction to blood flow
• anasarca - general fluid accumulation throughout the body
• dysentery - disorders marked by inflammation of intestines, paid in abdomen, constipation, blood and mucus in stool.  Hard on armies, aka flux, bloody flux, contagious pyrexia (fever), frequent griping stools
• amebic dysentery - entamoeba histolytica
• bacillary dysentery - bacteria of the genus Shigella
• eclampsia - form of toxemia - poison in blood accompanying pregnancy, used for any form of convulsion 
• edema - see dropsy
• effluvia - exhalations / emanation / vapours
• contagious effluvia - measles
• marsh effluvia - miasmata
• those arising from animals / vegetables
• emphysema, pulmonary - chronic, irreversible disease of lungs, shortness of breath, hacking cough, defective oxygenation of blood, blue color of face, full / rounded / barrel-shaped chest
• enteric fever - see typhoid fever
• epilepsy - disorder of nervous system, characterized by mild, episodic loss of attention or sleepiness or by severe convulsions with loss of consiousness, aka falling sickness, fits
• erysipelas - acute, febrile, infectious disease, caused by specific group A streptococcus bacterium & characterized by a duffusely spreading, deep-red inflammation fo the skin, causing a rash with a well-defined margin - aka Rose, St. Anthony's Fire
• flux - see dysentery
• furuncle - see boil
• gangrene - death & decay of tissue, ususally a limb - due to injury, disease or failure of blood supply aka mortification
• gleet - see catarrh
• gravel - kidney stones
• hectic fever - daily recurring fever, sweating, chills, flushed appearance, associated with pulmonary tuberculosis or septic poisoning
• hives - wheals, redder / paler than surrounding skin, itching, generally allergy. See croup - mid-nineteenth century, hives was commonly given cause of death of children three years and younger. Because true hives does not kill, croup was probably the actual cause of death. 
• hospital fever - see typhus
• hydrocephalus - see dropsy
• hydorthorax - see dropsy
• icterus - see jaundice
• inanition - exhaustion from lack of nourishment - starvation
• infection - contamination of a person, organ or would with invading, multiplying, disease producing germs such as bacteria, rickettsiae, viruses, molds, yeasts, and protozoa. In the early part of the last century, infections were thought to be the propogation of disease by effluvia from patients crowded together. Miasms were believed to be substances which could not be seen in any form - emanations not apparent to the senses. 
• inflammation - redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, heat and disturbed function of an area of the body - in the last century, cause of death often was listed as inflammation of a body organ - brain or lung - but this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the actual underlying disease.
• intussusception - slipping of one part within another - prolapse of of one part of the intestine into the lumen of an immediately adjoining part. aka introsusception
• jail fever - see typhus
• jaundice - yellow discoloration of skin, whites of eyes & mucous membranes due to increase of bile pigments in blood - hepatitis, obstruction of bile duct, cancer of the liver - aka icterus
• kidney stone - see gravel
• king's evil - popular name for scrofula, name originated in time of Edward the Confessor with the belief that the disease could be cured by the touch of the king of England.
• lockjaw - tetanus aka trismus
• malignant fever - see typhus
• marasmus - malnutrition occurring in infants & young children, caused by insufficient intake of calories or protein - now considered to be related to kwashiorkor, severe protein deficiency - in mid-nineteenth century, specific causes were associated with specific ages: 
• infants under 12 months - causes believed to be unsuitable food, chronic vomiting, chronic diarrhea, inherited syphilis
• 1-3 years old - associated with rickets or cancer
• 3 years + - caseous (cheeselike) enlargement of the mesenteric glans (located in the peritoneal fold attaching the small intestine to the body wall) given as cause of wasting
• 6 years + - chronic pulmonary tuberculosis major cause
• meningitis - inflammation of the membranes cover the brain, spinal cord - caused by bacterial or viral infection - high fever, severe headache, still neck or back muscles aka brain fever
• morbus - Latin word for disease. in last century, used as qualifying adjective indicating the nature or seat of said disease - morbus cordis = heart disease
• neuralgia - sharp & paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve - many causes - anemia, diabetes, gout, malaria, syphilis
• paristhmitis - see quinsy
• petechial fever - see typhus
• phthisis - see consumption
• pleurisy - inflammation of the pleura - chest cavity membrane with or without fluid collected in the cavity - chills, fever, dry cough, pain in affected side (a stitch)
• penumonia - inflammation of lungs with congestion or consolidation - caused by viruses, bacteria, physical or chemical agents
• pus - yellow-white more or less viscid substance found in abscesses & sores, consisting of white liquid plasma
• putrid fever - see typhus
• putrid sore throat - ulceration of an acute form, attacking tonsils, rapidly running into sloughing of the cavity at the back of mouth
• pyrexia - see dysentery
• quinsy - fever or febrile condition - acute inflammation of tonsils, leading to abscess, peritonsillar abscess aka suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris, paristhmitis, sore throat
• scarlatina - scarlet fever - contagious febrile disease caused by infection with particular bacteria
• scrofula - primary uberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially in neck.  Disease of children & young adults, extension of tuberculosis into the skin from underlying lymph nodes - cold abscesses, multiple skin ulcers, draining sinus tracts - see king's evil
• septic - infected - local or generalized invasion of the body by disease causing germs or toxins
• ship  fever - see typhus
• spotted fever - see typhus
• suffocation - stoppage of respiration. In 19th century, suffocation was reported as being accidental or homicidal. The accidents - pieces of food or obstacle in the pharynx or by entry of foreign bodies into the larynx.  Suffocation of newborns by smothering under bedclothes may have happened from carelessness as well as from intent. Deaths could have been due to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) - generally occurs between ages 3 weeks to 5 months aka crib death, cot death. It was felt that victims of homicidal suffocation were chiefly infants or feeble and infirm persons. 
• summer complaint - see cholera infantum
• suppuration - the production of pus
• tabes mesenterica - tuberculosis of the mesenteric glands in children - resulting in digestive dreangement & wasting of the body.
• teething - entire process which results in eruption of the eeth - 19th century medical reports stated that infants were more prone to disease at the time of teething. Symptoms - restlessness, fretfulness, convulsions, diarrhea & painful, swollen gums. Treatment - lancing of gums.  Often teething reported as cause of death in infants. Perhaps they became susceptible to infections, especially if lancing was performed without antisepsis. Another explanation of teething as cause of death is that infants were often weaned at the time of teething; perhaps they died from drinking contaminated milk, leading to an infection, or from malnutrition if watered-down milk was given,
• tetanus - infectious, often-fatal disease caused by Clostridium tetani that enters through wounds - respiratory paralysis, tonic spasms, riginity of voluntary muscles, especially neck and lower jaw - aka trismus, lockjaw
• thrush - disease characterized by whitish spots and ulcers on membranes of mouth, tongue and fauces caused by parasitic fungus - usually affects, sick, weak infants, elderly individuals in poor health. Now caused by complications from excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics or cortisone treatment - aka aphthae, sore mouth, aphthous stomatitis
• trismus nascentium or neonatorum - form of tetanus only in infants, first five days of life, probably due to infection of the umbilical stump
• typhoid fever - infectious, often fatal febrile disease, usually occurring in summer - intestinal inflammation, ulceration caused by bacteria, introduced by food or drink. Symptoms - prolonged hectic fever, malaise, transient skin rash, abdominal paid, enlarged spleen, slow heart rate, delirium, low white-blood cell count. Name derived from similarity to typhus (see below) - aka enteric fever
• typhus - acute infectious disease caused by micro-organism transmitted by lice and fleas - acute prostration, high fever, depression, delirium, headache, reddish spots on body. Epidemic form is louse born, endemic or murine is flea borne - aka typhus fever, malignant fever (in 1850s) jail fever, hospital fever, ship fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever, spotted fever, petechial fever, camp fever
• virus - ultramicroscopic, metabolically inert infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants and animals. In early 1800s virus meant poison, venom or contagion.
• yellow fever - acute, often fatal infectious febrile disease of warm climates - virus transmitted by mosquitoes - liver damage, jaundice, fever, protein in urine. 1900 Walter Reed and people in Panama found that mosquitoes transmit it. Late 19th century distinction made between specific yellow fever and malarious yellow fever. 

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Clark, George, ed. "Through Indiana by Stagecoach and Canal Boat: The 1843 Travel Journal of Charles H. Titus," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXV, No. 3, Sept. 1989.

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Curran, Joan. Numbering Your Genealogy: Sound & Simple Systems, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 3, Sept., 1991, Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society. 

Page 192 - Multi-Surname Approach The writer who chooses this last manner of presenting an all-my-ancestors type of genealogy need only make slight adaptations in the NGSQ or Register system. Unlike the descending genealogies described earlier, which carry forward most individuals in each generation, this type follows only the one in each generation who represents the direct line. The siblings of each individual within that descending line are named as children within their parental family; and a brief summary of each sibling's life may follow his or her name. The separate chapter or sections that are devoted to each surname ususally begin with the primary family, tracing it from the earliest progenitor to the most-recent generation. Allied surnames may then be arranged either in alphabetical order or by major family branches; they are usually brought down only to the point that they merge into the dominant line. Each family's section is often introduced by a chart showing the line of descent within the surname and the link to a major family line. Such charts frequently include the years of birth and death and sometimes the year of marriage. 

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Dahl, John. Book Review: Eighteenth Century Emigration from German-Speaking Lands to North America. Vol. 2: The Western Palatinate, by Annette Kunselman Burgert, National Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 3, Sept. 1986.

Vol. 1 of this important series, dealing with the emigrants from the Northern Kraichgau, was reviewed in the September 1985 Quarterly. The modern state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) created after World War II, is bordered by the states of Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) to the north, Hessen and Baden-Wűrrttemberg to the east, France to the south and Saarland to the southwest. The area of primary interest in vol. 2 is that part of the Palatinate bordering on Saarland. . . . The emigrants are arranged alphabetically from Adam Albert to Daniel & Balthaser Zutter.  . . . For each emigrant his place of origin or residence in the Western Palatinate, name of the ship that brought him to America and the date (as shown in Strassburger and Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers, or if before 1727, when the ship lists begin, the notation, "pre-list, 1726"), his family entry in European and American church registers, and sometimes other records are given. . . . There are three indices: A. Ship; B: European Place Names; C. Surnames. Maps and illustrations add to the interest of this well-researched and edited work. 

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Fisher, James. "A Forgotten Hero Remembered, Revered, and Revised: The Legacy & Ordeal of George Rogers Clark," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XCII, No. 2, June 1996. 

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Glen, John, et al. "Indiana Archives: Archival Holdings in Western Indiana," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 96, No. 3, Sept. 2000. 

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Glen, John, et al. "Indiana Archives: Indiana in the Civil War Era," Indiana Magazine of History, VOl. XCII, No. 3, Sept. 1996. 

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Green. David. Book Review: Dorset Pilgrims: The Story of West Country Pilgrims Who Went to New England in the 17th Century, by Grank Thistlewhaite, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 3, Sept., 1991, Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society. 

. . . While Professor Thistlethwaite's hisotrical sense is superb, his use of genealogical materials is unfortunately less so. His identification of emigrants aboard the Mary & John is a striking case in point. No contemporary passenger list is known to survive for this ship, which landed at Nantasket on 30 May 1630. Not surprisingly, descendants of the early settlers of Dorchester and Windsor have placed on the vessel many later arrivals. Thistlethwaite's antiquated liss are based, in varying degrees, upon this wishful thinking. . . .  Readers should treat this volume's genealogical assertions with caution, and they should be aware that its genealogical value is limited by the fact that its index does not include every name mentioned in the text. 

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Hall, Bob. "The Scholar as Detective: Disentangling Fact from Fiction in Accounts of Pioneer History," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXV, No. 4, Dec. 1989.

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Hunter, Juanita. "The Indians & the Michigan Road," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXIII, No. 3, Sept. 1987.

John Tipton, Indian Agent, 1823-1832; Commissioner, Treaty of Mississinewa 1826, US Senator 1831-1839

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Jakle, John. "Toward a Geographical History of Indiana: Landscape & Place in the Historical Imagination," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXIX, No. 3, Sept. 1993.

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Mayberry, Virginia, ed. "West to Wilderness," Indiana Magazine of History, Volume LXXXIII, No. 1, March 1987.

Description of migration from New York to northern Indiana in 1834 during the Jacksonian Migration. 

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Patrick, Jeff, ed. "'We Lay There Doing Nothing': John Jackson's Recollection of the War of 1812," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 2, June 1992. 

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Steinson, Barbara. "Rural Life in Indiana, 1800-1950," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XC, No. 3, Sept. 1994.

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Stevens, Paul. "'One of the Most Beautiful Regions of the World': Paul Des Ruisseaux's Memoire of the Wabash-Illinois Country in 1777," Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. LXXXIII, No. 4, Dec. 1987