Historical cause of death 1600s-1910s
What did consumption mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, consumption meant a slow wasting disease of the lungs: a cough that would not lift, night sweats, and steady loss of flesh. In modern terms it usually pointed to pulmonary tuberculosis, almost always. It was the single most common cause on nineteenth-century registers, and it ran through households, so check siblings' certificates for the same word. Expect it on records mostly 1600s-1910s.
Also written on records as: phthisis, galloping consumption, consumption of the lungs.
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Related terms
Browse the full genealogy records glossary for more occupations, causes of death, and legal terms.
FAQs
What is consumption called today?+
Pulmonary tuberculosis, almost always, 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 consumption written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote phthisis, galloping consumption, and consumption of the lungs. 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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