Historical cause of death 1600s-1800s
What did childbed fever mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, childbed fever meant a raging fever striking a mother within days of delivery. In modern terms it usually pointed to puerperal sepsis, a bacterial infection after childbirth. A mother's death weeks after a baptism is the classic sign; check for the infant's fate and a swift remarriage in the same registers. Expect it on records mostly 1600s-1800s.
Also written on records as: puerperal fever, died in childbed, lying-in fever.
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Related terms
Browse the full genealogy records glossary for more occupations, causes of death, and legal terms.
FAQs
What is childbed fever called today?+
Puerperal sepsis, a bacterial infection after childbirth, broadly speaking. Doctors of the period diagnosed without laboratory tests, so one label often covered several conditions we would now separate. This page explains historical record language and is not medical advice.
How was childbed fever written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote puerperal fever, died in childbed, and lying-in fever. Spelling wandered from register to register, so check every variant before you decide a record is missing or wrong.
Where do these definitions come from?+
They are drawn from period dictionaries, government archive glossaries, and standard genealogy references, cross-checked against each other; provenance is documented with the dataset. Inside AncestorIQ, Deep Research reads the record itself and explains terms like this in context, against your ancestor's own document.
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