Ancestry Magazine

Think of them as government-written whodunits—outlines of great mysteries, complete with murder, suicide, and even a few peaceful deaths thrown in for good measure. They provide the who, the what, the where, the when, and sometimes even the why. Everything else is left up to you.

Sound interesting? It is, particularly if you like unraveling the mysterious clues left in mortality schedules.

The “What”
When genealogists mention the U.S. census, they almost always mean population schedules of the federal census, or occasionally the state censuses. Rarely are they referring to special schedules like agricultural, industrial, and most intriguingly, mortality schedules.

Simply put, mortality schedules recorded information about individuals who died in the twelve months preceding census day (usually June 1). Census takers would record the name of the deceased, the month and cause of death, as well as personal information such as age, sex, color, marital status, birthplace, and occupation. Later schedules also included parent’s birthplace and how long the decedent had resided in the county.

The “When”
In many cases, mortality schedules predate the keeping of death records by states, which, in some situations, makes a mortality schedule the only record available that offers the date, place, and cause of an ancestor’s death.The process started in 1850, when census takers attempted to collect information on deaths occurring in the preceding twelve months. The practice continued until 1900, and was made part of the censuses taken in 1885 by Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and the territories of South Dakota and New Mexico. However, some large cities that had other systems of registering deaths did not complete mortality schedules.

The “Why”
Why consult a mortality schedule? For the genealogist, mortality schedules can help document death dates, add family members, and guide searches in other records. Plus, they also included information that wasn’t listed in the general census. One of the more revealing inclusions in a mortality schedule is the cause of death. Genetic diseases can offer a researcher insight into a family’s health history. Other illnesses may act as clues to lifestyle or employment. Criminal acts, like murder, can indicate a need to research court records and newspapers. Less glamorous, but equally valuable, are the names, ages, birthplaces, and other personal information found on mortality schedules, all of which can be used to place a person in a certain place at a certain time. The family number in the 1870 and 1880 mortality schedules makes the connection between a mortality schedule and population schedules simpler.Mortality schedules can also be especially helpful for pre-1850 research since censuses prior to 1850 only listed names for heads of household; age-range was the only information included for other members of the household. Birthplace information wasn’t listed.

The “How”
Part of what makes mortality schedules unique involves the process through which they were created.Census takers, while making their rounds, were instructed to take “especial pains” to record the cause of death as specifically as possible on mortality schedules. To help with this task, during the 1870 census it was suggested that assistant marshals enlist a physician who would be willing, “out of public spirit and professional interest, to glance over the entire list of diseases and correct a defective classification.”In 1880, to again improve recording accuracy, enumerators were instructed to visit the attending physicians recorded for each death. Separate registers with the same questions listed on the mortality schedules, called “physician’s returns,” were mailed to all physicians, to be completed and returned by the end of the census year.
While only about 40 percent of the physician forms were collected at the Census Office, they produced over 60,000 additional names that had not been recorded by the enumerators.Questions asked on mortality schedules didn’t change much over the years. Schedules included place information of state, county, and minor civil division and, in 1880, the enumeration district. In 1850 and 1860, census takers requested the name of the deceased, age, sex, color, free or slave, married or widowed, place of birth (state or country), month of death, occupation, cause of death, and number of days ill. In 1870, mortality schedules dropped ” free or slave” and “number of days ill” and added a family number (which corresponds to the family number on the population schedule) and whether the father or mother of the decedent was foreign born.

The “Where”
Most of the mortality schedules for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1885 are available for research. Unfortunately, the schedules from 1900 were destroyed by order of Congress after the statistics were compiled, although a partial secondary transcription of the mortality schedules made for the Minnesota State Board of Health was discovered at the Minnesota Historical Society and subsequently published as the Minnesota 1900 Census Mortality Schedule. This is the only known surviving 1900 mortality schedule for any state.In the early twentieth century, the federal government offered the original mortality schedules, except 1900, to non-federal repositories. Some of the schedules went to state repositories, including archives, libraries, and historical societies. The remaining schedules were deposited at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C.In the early 1980s, the DAR gave its schedules to the National Archives which are listed in National Archives Microfilm Resources for Research: A Comprehensive Catalog. Most of the other schedules, both original and filmed, are still held in repositories in their respective states. The Family History Library also has copies of many microfilmed mortality schedules that can be borrowed from any Family History Center.Larger libraries may have published state indexes to many of the mortality schedules, with some of these indexes available on CD-ROM. Similarly, county indexes and transcriptions may also be available.
Also, in April 2005, Ancestry.com released the first portion of its U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850–1880 database. Currently the searchable database holds information related to over 848,000 individuals.

The “Warnings”
Beware—while these schedules are potentially rich with information, they have their limitations.Some estimates suggest that deaths were under-reported by as much as 20 to 40 percent, and the information that was reported wasn’t always complete. Like all census records, the information in mortality schedules is only as accurate as the informant and the census taker’s ability to correctly note the information.The system had other flaws as well. In 1880, the place where a disease was contracted, if different than the place of death, was recorded. Enumerators were asked to record the place of death for a person who belonged to a family in the district but had died elsewhere. Enumerators were also instructed to record the place of residence for the family of a person who had died in the district but whose family lived elsewhere. As a result, some individuals are recorded on two schedules.Problems may also arise when using mortality schedules for slave research. Indexes to mortality schedules frequently omit the names of slaves found on the schedules. Sometimes deceased slaves were recorded without surnames. Other times, the records include the given name of the slave along with the name of the slave owner. In still other cases, slaves were recorded with surnames, presumably those of their owners.

The Unusual Suspect
That said, mortality schedules can be a uniquely invaluable find, particularly in the following situations:

• When you know that an ancestor died in the twelve-month period preceding a census year.
• When you have a family member who appears in one census, but you can’t find that person in the next census.
• When you don’t have any specific evidence, but you’re not ready to deem your census research complete.

And lastly, mortality schedules may be just the resource you’re looking for, particularly if you’re in the mood for an intriguing read that may even hold the clues you need to unlock the mystery of your own family history.

Diagnosing Diseases (and other causes of death)

Finding the underlying cause of death for an ancestor via a mortality schedule can provide you with a fantastic amount of information about a distant relative’s lifestyle and even your family’s present-day medical history.While determining cause of death may seem simpler on mortality schedules from 1870 forward—after the federal government enacted changes to that attempted to make mortality schedule reporting methods more specific—you’ll still find plenty of records that contain causes of death like & ldquo;new money fever” and “yaller ganders of the liver.”While most diseases listed in mortality schedules fell under the terms “consumption,” “typhoid fever,” and “cholera infantum,” you will undoubtedly come across a number of medical terms that are not commonly used today. Insight into some causes of death may be found in the “Remarks” section at the bottom of each schedule. Here, census takers were encouraged to report prevalent diseases or illnesses and their possible cause. In 1850, census takers were also invited to comment on the character of the water, soil, and vegetation or any other facts of interest.Comments in the “Remarks” section may range from the physician’s poor qualifications to additional information about a specific death. On the 1860 mortality schedule for Richmond County, Georgia, for instance, the census taker recorded the following: “Francis Spellman was insane sometime previous to her death, cause of her insanity I could not ascertain. She had made several attempts at self distinction before she succeeded.” Comments may also convey information about relationships or other events.

Similar glossaries may also be available at your local library.