1883 - 1894 County Death Records

Moniteau County Missouri

1883 - 1894 County Death Records

Click on year for death records:

1883 (41 records) 1886 (59 records)

1884 (152 records) 1887 (36 records)

1885 (96 records) 1888 - 1894 (7 records)

What did they mean by that?

Some terms used on these death records and what they mean:

Listed are links to more information. Another good source is Archaic Medical Terms.

Abortus [Fever] (also called brucellosis): (Wikipedia) (Archaic Medical Terms)

Disease resulting from drinking contaminated milk. Causes a feverish illness of variable duration often with joint problems and frequently depression. Goats can be the source in Malta and pigs in the U.S.A. and far east

Absorption of umbilical cord:

Apoplexy: (Wikipedia)

A stroke. Derives from the Greek word for 'seizure', in the sense of being struck down. It is an old-fashioned medical term, which can be used to mean 'neurological impairment' or 'hemorrhage'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage.

Cerebro infantum:

Consumption: (Wikipedia)

Historical term for Tuberculosis. In the past, tuberculosis was called consumption, because it seemed to consume people from within, with a bloody cough, fever, and long relentless wasting. Other names included phthisis (Greek for consumption).

Croup (Under Spasmodic Laryngitis) (Disease Encyclopedia)

This is a spasm of the vocal chords excited by catarrh. The larynx and swelling of its mucous lining. It is a common malady of early childhood.
Formerly croup was divided into membranous and non-membranous or simple croup.

The differences in the behavior of the two exudates show a big difference in their characters, and point to differences in their causes. Simple croup is of a catarrhal nature and results from carbohydrate plethora; membranous croup is of a serous nature and is the result of protein poisoning.

Croupus pneumonia: (Wikipedia)

Apparently a combination of croup (above) and pneumonia.

Pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. Pneumonia can result from a variety of causes, including infection with bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. Pneumonia may also occur from chemical or physical injury to the lungs, or indirectly due to another medical illness, such as lung cancer or alcohol abuse.

Typical symptoms associated with pneumonia include cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty in breathing. Pneumonia is a common illness, occurs in all age groups, and is a leading cause of death among the elderly and people who are chronically ill. The prognosis for an individual depends on the type of pneumonia, the appropriate treatment, any complications, and the person's underlying health.

Dropsy (now called Edema): (Wikipedia)

Edema, formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess lymph fluid, without an increase of the number of cells in the affected tissue. Edema can accumulate in almost any location in the body, but the most common sites are the feet and ankles.

Erysipelas: (Wikipedia)

Erysipelas is an acute streptococcus bacterial skin infection, resulting in inflammation and characteristically extending into underlying fat tissue.

Gastro enteritis: (Wikipedia)

Gastroenteritis involves diarrhea or vomiting, with non-inflammatory infection of the upper small bowel, or inflammatory infection of the colon, each part of the gastrointestinal tract. Usually this is caused by an infection, but this is not always the case. It usually is of acute onset, normally lasting less than 10 days. Sometimes it is referred to simply as 'gastro'.

Hypertrophy of the heart: (Wikipedia)

Organ hypertrophy is the increase of the size of an organ or in a select area of the tissue. Hypertrophy occurs due to an increase in the size of cells, while the number stays the same.

Ventricular hypertrophy is the increase in size of the ventricles of the heart. Changes can be beneficial or healthy if they occur in response to aerobic or anaerobic exercise, but ventricular hypertrophy is generally associated with pathological changes due to high blood pressure or other disease states.

Intussusception: (Wikipedia)

An intussusception is a situation in which a part of the intestine has prolapsed into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another

Meningitis: (Wikipedia)

Cerebro-spinal meningitis is not a very common disease. It is an inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal cord. Where the inflammation is confined to the membranes of the brain it is called meningitis, and where it is confined to the membranes of the spinal cord it is called spinal meningitis. When both are involved, the two names are linked together and it is called cerebro-spinal meningitis.

Peritonitis: (Wikipedia)

Peritonitis is defined as inflammation of the peritoneum (the serous membrane which lines part of the abdominal cavity). It may be localized or generalized, generally has an acute course, and may depend on either infection (often due to rupture of a hollow viscus) or on a non-infectious process. Peritonitis generally represents a surgical emergency.

If properly treated, typical cases of surgically correctable peritonitis (e.g. perforated peptic ulcer, appendicitis, and diverticulitis) have a mortality rate of about <10% in otherwise healthy patients, which rises to about 40% in the elderly, and/or in those with significant underlying illness, as well as in cases that present late (after 48h). If untreated, generalized peritonitis is almost always lethal.

Phthisis: (Wikipedia)

Pott's Disease: (Wikipedia)

Pott's disease is a presentation of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis that affects the spine, a kind of tuberculous arthritis of the intervertebral joints. More precisely it is called tuberculous spondyloarthropathy and the original name was formed after Percivall Pott (1714-1788), a London surgeon. It is most commonly localized in the thoracic portion of the spine.

Pseudo membranous croup: (Disease Encyclopedia)

"Membranous croup" is the worst form of diphtheria. These cases seldom appear to be very ill. For two or three days there is a rough, croupy cough which becomes a little more croupy each afternoon and evening, but wearing off somewhat in the forepart of the night and in the morning. The child's breathing is not affected, he has an appetite - and there is usually little uneasiness on the part of parents. Then, suddenly, the child almost suffocates. He tosses about on the bed, sits up and struggles in various ways in an effort to breathe. He becomes blue. In severe cases the child suffocates unless relieved by intubation or tracheotomy. In the milder cases the paroxysms are soon over, but they sometimes recur later.

Pseudo membranous laryngitis: (Under Spasmodic Laryngitis) (Disease Encyclopedia)

This is a spasm of the vocal chords excited by catarrh. If the larynx and swelling of its mucous lining. It is a common malady of early childhood.
Formerly croup was divided into membranous and non-membranous or simple croup. Dr. Trall thought the two croups differed only in degree and said "in the former case the exudation which forms on the mucous lining of the wind pipe (trachea) concretes into a membranous covering, and in the latter case, the excreted matter is expectorated without consolidation."
The differences in the behavior of the two exudates show a big difference in their characters, and point to differences in their causes. Simple croup is of a catarrhal nature and results from carbohydrate plethora; membranous croup is of a serous nature and is the result of protein poisoning.

Pueperal fever - Also known as Childbed Fever: (ECureMe.com)

Infection after childbirth is generally puerperal fever, and rise in body temperature is an important symptom. A puerperal fever is first seen as an infection of the reproductive organs. Puerperal fever was once considered a very dangerous illness: it was one of the 3 leading causes of death among women giving birth. The mortality risk due to Puerperal fever has been reduced by the development of antibiotics, but there are still dangers like surgery and blood poisoning.

Septic of blood: (Wikipedia)

Septic shock is a serious medical condition causing such effects as multiple organ failure and death in response to infection and sepsis. Its most common victims are children, immunocompromised individuals and the elderly, as their immune systems cannot cope with the infection as well as those of full-grown adults. The mortality rate from septic shock is approximately 50%.

Typhoid: (The Medical Front)

No single symptom or feature is characteristic. The onset is often suggestive, particularly the occurrence of epistaxis, and (if seen from the start) the ascending fever. The steadiness of the fever for a week or longer after reaching the fastigium is an important point.

Tuberculosis: (Wikipedia)

Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB) is a common and deadly infectious disease, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones, joints, and even the skin.

Symptoms include a productive, prolonged cough of more than three weeks duration, chest pain, and coughing up blood. Systemic symptoms include fever, chills, night sweats, appetite loss, weight loss, paling, and easy fatigability. When the infection spreads out of the lungs, extra-pulmonary sites include the pleura, central nervous system in meningitis, lymphatic system in scrofula of the neck, and bones and joints in Pott's disease of the spine.

Typho malarial fever: (The Medical Front)

From malarial fever, typhoid is, as a rule, readily recognized. There is no such disease as typho-malarial fever-that is, a separate and distinct malady. Typhoid fever and malarial fever may coexist in the same patient. In patients returning from Cuba and Porto Rico during the late war the two conditions were often found together, but in the United States it is excessively rare. The term typho-malarial fever should be abandoned. The autumnal type of malarial fever may present a striking similarity in its early days to typhoid fever. Differentiation may be made only by the blood examination. There may be no chills, the remissions may be extremely slight, there is a history perhaps of malaise, weakness, diarrhea, and sometimes vomiting. The tongue is furred and white, the cheeks flushed, the spleen slightly enlarged, and the temperature continuous, or with very slight remissions.

Return to Moniteau County Homepage