Historical cause of death 1700s-1800s
What did hydrophobia mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, hydrophobia meant rabies, named for the choking spasms that made victims unable to swallow water. In modern terms it usually pointed to rabies. Certificates sometimes record the dog bite weeks before death; local newspapers usually covered the case in harrowing detail. Expect it on records mostly 1700s-1800s.
Also written on records as: canine madness, bitten by a mad dog.
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Related terms
Browse the full genealogy records glossary for more occupations, causes of death, and legal terms.
FAQs
What is hydrophobia called today?+
Rabies, 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 hydrophobia written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote canine madness and bitten by a mad dog. 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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