Cause of death

[dawnlea]

Hello peeps

Whilst browsing the local parish records this week for more relatives, I found that one of my ancestors, reported in the burials register, died from consumption (steady consumption, I think was what it actually said). What was this? Looking at the burials done around the same time as my ancestor, a lot of people died of consumption. My relative died in 1845. Was it a disease or a plague-type thing? Or was everybody at the same wild party? :2fun:

 

[pee wee]

Hi Dawnlea'

Looked up the meaning of consumption.

" A condition characterized by a wasting away of the tissues of the body. esp. as seen in tuberculosis of the lungs."
Made no mention of steady consumption but I should imagine that it means they had the condition for a while. & TB was quite virulent in early days.

Hope that helps

Peta

 

[ieyebugs]

I just read your message and decided to join this group. The steady consumption is definately TB. Unpasturized milk and sick cows cause many deaths in my family here across the pond. My Paternal grandfather lost his mother, 3 aunts, 7 cousins, a brother, two sisters, and several uncles to consumption. Going back on my my grandfather's mother's line there was rampant TB there also. There were several generations of dairy famers and TB infested cows.
Now....I have a question. What is "Fresh Teeth" as a cause of death? This was on an English woman's tombstone. Any clue?
My Maternal grandfather was born Ascott under Wychwood, Oxfordshire, England. the lines I am researching: Moss, Westbury, Kirby, Edginton
Ieyebugs

Hello peepsÂ

Whilst browsing the local parish records this week for more relatives, I found that one of my ancestors, reported in the burials register, died from consumption (steady consumption, I think was what it actually said). What was this? Looking at the burials done around the same time as my ancestor, a lot of people died of consumption. My relative died in 1845. Was it a disease or a plague-type thing? Or was everybody at the same wild party? :2fun:

 

[dawnlea]

Dear all, ;D

Thanks for your info. I suppose that, as a nurse, I should really have thought of the golden oldie conditions such as TB. I suppose that the mid-1800's was before they had really thought of a name for the condition. At least I know why there were so many recorded as having died of it round about the time of my ancestor's death. As for 'Fresh Teeth' - never heard of it! But I will get my deerstalker and pipe out immediately. Watch this space!! :2fun:

Dawn

 

[dawnlea]

Dear ieyebugs ;D
Hello and welcome!
As promised, I did a quick (well, actually not so quick!) search for 'fresh teeth'. I couldn't find it as such but I did discover that teething was a recognized cause of death in the 19th century. When did the lady die and how old was she? If she was in her twenties, it still could have been wisdom teeth that she was 'cutting'. I looked on Olivetreegenealogy.com and they have a glossary of archaic medical terms. Under teething, it said that infants were more prone to disease at the time of teething. The symptoms were restlessness, fretfullness, convulsions, diarrhoea and painful, swollen gums. Teething was often reported as a cause of death in infants. I think that this was mainly due to infection - especially as swollen gums were often lanced under very dubious sanitary conditions. I don't think that they'd heard of asepsis in those days. So, the cause of death wasn't the actual cutting of the tooth but as a result of the infection. This could explain the 'fresh teeth' on the lady's tombstone - she was cutting fresh teeth!!! :2fun:

 

[dawnlea]

Dear ieyebugs :2fun:

UPDATE!!
I left a message on a website called Classbrain and asked them about 'fresh teeth'. Their ideas were even more ridiculous than mine!! They suggested that the lady's death may have been due to an animal bite or from the 'fresh teeth' on a new tool. Maybe my theory isn't so ridiculous after all!! The more I think about it, the more my idea makes sense. What do you think?? :

 

[pee wee]

;D Hi All,

I also did a quick search on fresh teeth. Most links were for dentistry. One thing that I did find was a reference to a 18th century practice of replacing teeth with fresh teeth that were inserted into the gums. Apparently they sometimes used human teeth & the practice went on until the 20th century. If the gums became infected & blood poisoning set in it would have been fatal. They would have put the cause down as fresh teeth as the patient died as a result of an infection caused by having fresh teeth inserted. Yuk.
Well thats my theory anyway. Very similar to yours dawn but mine is putting the teeth back.

Keep thinking guys .

Peta

 

[dawnlea]

Dear PeeWee,

Hello again! ;D
Yep, sounds feasible. I suppose if the lady in question was of a marrying age then she had to look her best in order to attract a husband. Nobody wants someone with rotten or gappy teeth . So, in order to maintain appearances, to have teeth inserted in place of yucky ones was a logical thing to do. This is only a hypothesis but who knows what could happen in love!! :-*

See ya

Dawn