Historical cause of death 1600s-1800s
What did pleurisy mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, pleurisy meant inflammation of the chest lining, a stabbing pain on every breath, fatal when fluid or infection filled the chest. In modern terms it usually pointed to pleural infection, usually with pneumonia. A stitch of the side in early registers is the same complaint in plain words. It rarely killed alone; pneumonia beneath it did. Expect it on records mostly 1600s-1800s.
Also written on records as: pleuritis, stitch of the side, pleuritic 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 pleurisy called today?+
Pleural infection, usually with pneumonia, 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 pleurisy written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote pleuritis, stitch of the side, and pleuritic 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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