Historical cause of death 1700s-1900s
What did misadventure mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, misadventure, usually death by misadventure, is a coroner's verdict meaning an accident with no one criminally to blame. In modern terms it usually pointed to accidental death. A misadventure verdict means an inquest sat, and the coroner's file or the local paper usually tells the whole story the register cannot. Expect it on records mostly 1700s-1900s.
Also written on records as: death by misadventure, casually killed, accidental death.
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Related terms
Browse the full genealogy records glossary for more occupations, causes of death, and legal terms.
FAQs
What is misadventure called today?+
Accidental death, 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 misadventure written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote death by misadventure, casually killed, and accidental death. 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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