NEW YORK MARBLE CEMETERY – CAUSES OF DEATH

(Painting by Charles Robert Leslie, 1829. Sarah Dillwyn’s Deathbed. Courtesy Swansea Museum Collection)

The Cemetery registers note the cause of death for most burials.

This list is in order of frequency. The first 12 diseases caused half of all deaths.

  1. Phthisis or Consumption (TB)
  2. Still-birth
  3. Scarlet fever or Scarlatina
  4. Dropsy or Hydrothorax (Edema)
  5. Apoplexy (Stroke)
  6. Dysentary
  7. Croup
  8. Hydrocephalus
  9. Cholera infantum
  10. Inflammation of the lungs
  11. Debility or Asthenia
  12. Heart disease
  13. Convulsions
  14. Cancer, Tumor, or Carcinoma
  15. Old age or Decay of life
  16. Inflammation of the bowels
  17. Cholera or Ch. asiatica
  18. Congestion of the brain
  19. Marasmus, Inanition, Cachexia
  20. Accidental death
  21. Childbed or Puerpural fever
  22. Pneumonia
  23. Inflammation of the brain
  24. Whooping cough or Pertussis
  25. Erysipelas (“St. Anthony’s Fire”)
  26. Bronchitis
  27. Liver disease
  28. Measles or Rubeola
  29. Bilious fever
  30. Typhus
  31. Diarrhea
  32. Meningitis, Phrenitis, Brain fever
  33. Paralysis
  34. Remittent or Remitting fever
  35. Teething
  36. Diptheria
  37. Peritonitis
  38. Typhoid
  39. Premature birth
  40. Enteritis or Gastric enteritis
  41. Tabes mesenterica
  42. Congestion of the lungs
  43. Lung disease
  44. Hæmorrhage
  45. Kidney disease or Nephritis
  46. Softening of the brain
  47. Bright’s disease
  48. Effusion of the brain
  1. Hypertrophy of the heart
  2. Nervous fever or complaint
  3. Rheumatism
  4. Sore throat or Quinsy
  5. Suicide
  6. Angina pectoris
  7. Exhaustion
  8. Influenza
  9. Palsy or Tremor
  10. Blood vessel burst
  11. Bowel complaint
  12. Carditis or Pericarditis
  13. Dyspepsia or Indigestion
  14. Epilepsy or Fits
  15. Fever
  16. Gastritis
  17. Inflammation of the stomach
  18. Smallpox or Varioloid
  19. Abscess
  20. Albuminuria
  21. Asthma
  22. Congestion of the liver
  23. Continued or Congestive fever
  24. Constipation
  25. Cyanosis
  26. Diabetes
  27. Gangrene
  28. Hepatitis
  29. Malaria
  30. Pleuritis or Pleurisy
  31. Purpura (Scurvy)
  32. Schirrus (Hard organ or tumor)
  33. Ulceration of the throat
  34. Arnemia
  35. Ascites (Hydroperitoneum)
  36. Bladder disease
  37. Carbuncle (Boils)
  38. Catarrh
  39. Delirium
  40. Flux infantile
  41. Gout
  42. Hemiplegia or Paraplegia
  43. Hernia
  44. Jaundice
  45. Phlebitis
  46. Rheumatic fever
  47. Sarcoma
  48. Senectus or Senility
  1. Septicemia or Pyaemia
  2. Suffocation
  3. Ulceration of the bowels
  4. Anasarca (Massive edema)
  5. Aneurism
  6. Aphtha or Sprue (Thrush)
  7. Arachnitis (Meningitis)
  8. Asphyxia
  9. Astrophia
  10. Chlorosis (Anemia)
  11. Chorea (Spasms)
  12. Compression of the brain
  13. Cystitis
  14. Defective organization
  15. Effusion of the lungs
  16. Embolism
  17. Empresmas pneumanitis
  18. Feebleness of birth
  19. Fistula
  20. Fractured thigh
  21. Gastralgia
  22. Hæmerrophysis
  23. Hæmoptisis (Spitting blood)
  24. Hæmatemesis (Vomiting blood)
  25. Hives
  26. Hydropericardia
  27. Ilisis
  28. Intemperance
  29. Malformation
  30. Membris carditis
  31. Mental derangement
  32. Milk crust ( Vesicular eczema)
  33. Mitral stenosis
  34. Mortification
  35. Otitis (Ear inflammation)
  36. Perforation of the stomach
  37. Prostration
  38. Pulmony
  39. Rachitis (Rickets)
  40. Ramollisement
  41. Scrofula (“King’s Evil”)
  42. Stricture of the colon
  43. Syncope (Fainting)
  44. Tetanus
  45. Tonsilitis
  46. Winneplegia
  47. Womb complaint
  48. Wrengitis
  49. Yellow fever