READING THE LATIN and MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE BACK IN THE DAY : HUNGARIAN CEMETERIES , READING DEATH RECORDS, GENEALOGY RESEARCH IN HUNGARY #3

  What did our ancestors know about the cause of death back in the 19th century and before that?  When there were no vaccines, when a C-section was only done to try and save the baby since the mother had already died in childbirth, and when average people rarely lived as long as we are expected to? It seems that the more populated the place, and the more likely an educated doctor, the more details or understanding there might have been.

I've been working with death records for some time and many have no connotations at all, rather the concern seems to be that last rites of the Catholic church were administered to the dying, and that a grave was provided. When we look at records we may see Latin being used, though sometimes other notes are in Hungarian. 

Latin was the universal language of the Roman Catholic church.

SOME CAUSES OF DEATH IN RECORDS FROM 19th and 18th century  Death = Halal 

Naturalis : a natural death.  In other words not an accident.  Can cover anything other than an accident but especially old age or being debilitated. Also Ordinaris - an ordinary death, nothing unexpected.  (So far I have found only one record, for a twelve year old boy, in which is was written tragikus baleset (in Hungarian, Tragic Accident.)

Note that handwritten F's may be used in some cases instead of S.

Tusis : (Tufis) cough  (Whatever ailed this person they were coughing a lot.  Can be a childhood illness or can be TB.)

Phthisis : pulmonary - TB or another progressive and systemic illness

Hydrops (Hidrop) : fluid in the tissues or edema (visible, this can indicate any end-stage of life including cancer.)

How much was understood about cancer is unknown to me. We now know there are very many cancers and generally the place they originated in the body is what they are called, i.e. "colon cancer" though it may have spread.

Aquio suffo - Aquio suffocatus : means suffocate with water (drowned) however, some illness the person's lungs or heart filled with fluid.

Dipenteria / Dipenterium : Prison  (Person died while in prison.)

Morbo grasante : morbid fat or fattening disease

Dolorum : Pain  Which might be followed by where the pain was such as Stomachi (Stomach), Internum (Internal), Guter (gut)... Our ancestors did not have much for pain control and death was often painful... Fajdalom = Hungarian 

Ulceribus : an ulcer or wound that would not heal, which could be due to an infection. Fekely =Hungarian  (A Note that this notation might also indicate the person had diabetes.)

Tumores : tumors.  These would probably have had to be visible or perhaps operated upon.

Febris : fever  laz=Hungarian

Senex : Old Person (senile?)

Plagues  (Wash your hands!)  Pestis = Hungarian 

Epidemia - Epidemic

Any illness that was the cause of many people to die was called plague, so Covid-19 would be considered a Plague.  Though we understand what caused some of these today, such as unsanitary conditions, bad water, fleas, some forms of plague are still not understood.

Typhus - (According to the CDC of the United States) Typhus fevers are a group of diseases caused by bacteria that are spread to humans by fleas, lice, and chiggers. Typhus fevers include murine typhus, epidemic typhus, and scrub typhus.  Fleas spread murine typhus, body lice spread epidemic typhus, and chiggars spread scrub typhus.

Cholera - (According to the CDC of the United States) Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated water and food. Cholera can cause severe diarrhea, dehydration, and even death if the disease goes untreated.  People living in places with unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene are at highest risk of cholera.  (kolera = Hungarian)

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Provisus - provisions made for burial.  Often the name of the priest who performed Last Rites is given. 

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TIMELINES - THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUNGARIAN AND POLISH WOMEN IN INDEXES : USING THE POLISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY DATABASE for RESEARCH : GENEALOGY PRO TIP #4

TIMELINES - THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUNGARIAN AND POLISH WOMEN IN INDEXES  : USING THE POLISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY DATABASE for RESEARCH : GENEALOGY PRO TIP  #4

Death records I've encountered that are so far indexed on GENETEKA seem to be the least useful. I was so hoping to confirm the rumors of how certain ancestors died but cannot even find the records despite carefully paging through. Most of the reasons why someone died reveal that medical knowledge was not so advanced as it is today. I have often wondered at old people dying of "inflammation." I think this means the person probably retained water and appeared swollen by the time they died, which happens with some cancers.

I find creating a TIME LINE in which you note the dates of children who were married and what it says about their parents (i.e. is one of both deceased?) will at least help you limit your research.

Starting with a person's birth, follow them through the years for marriages and children. If you notice they are called a widow or widower on a remarriage record, then you know that by that time their previous spouse died.  If a child marries, his parents will likely be listed and it will translate to something like:

Jan, the son of the d.p.  (deceased parent) Marcus, and Marianna Sobato, means that at the time of his marriage his birth father was deceased, so there is a date that can limit your research in a positive way, but the mother is alive. By listing the births of children to Marcus' wives, and finding their marriages, you may get closer to the date of his death.

Additionally, you may have to go to the records that are not yet indexed or question what is indexed.

HERE IS MY BIG COMPLAINT ABOUT GENETEKA INDEXING.

In Hungarian records it seems understood that a woman is listed by her maiden/birth name at birth, marriage, and death, though in her community she is known as the married woman, Mrs. Szabo or Szabone. (ne suffix.)  However, in the Polish records I found women listed under their previous married name in the database. If someone has not noted that with a little :i: (information) icon then basically, you'll have to discover this yourself by reading the original records. Going to the information about her parentage is important so that you have her maiden/birth name. So, you may have to dismiss the database surname of the bride in marriages and go with what you know about the groom rather than the bride's surname.  More than one of my ancestors had three marriages due to the deaths of their first two spouses and that a careful indexer bothered to read and note the maiden name on each was of great help and made me aware this was not the case with every indexer.

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This post is part of a series on the subject.  To pull all the topics up, click on the tag Pro Genealogy Tips- Galicia