DECIPHERING DISEASE

Genealogists have always used death certificates to determine the date of death and ‘kill off ’ the individual. Frequently today, the researcher is also looking for further information, such as cause of death and perhaps how this relates to hereditary conditions, occupation, age and place of death, to gain a more complete picture of their forbears lives.

The causes of death on modern certificates are fairly easily interpreted, even if they are in ‘medical speak’, but for some, ‘scrofula’, ‘inanition’ and ‘phthisis’.