Genealogy Chat

I have just received a death certificate for 1840 and the cause of death is not too clear. I think it says 'decline'. Can anyone advise me if this is likely or suggest an alternative?
Thanks in anticipation

"Old age" is used, sometimes.

Alistair

A that time you didnt need a doctor to certify the death and hence you do get pretty nondescript description of the cause. In one of mine, my GGFx3 I have - "Been ill these last 9 months, old age"

This ancestor was only 39 and his wife died a few days later so I had wondered if they had suffered from the same thing. Perhaps I will send for hers to see if there is a different cause noted there.

Most likely - shame you couldnt get better info but I dont think doctors were necessary to give a reason until the 1860s?

That must be the reason why the description of the informant is 'next door neighbour present at death'.

I googled and found.

cause of death decline.....A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties,any wasting disease,esp pulmonary consumption; as to die of a decline. So perhaps TB was the cause

Tuberculosis might be a very good guess (although it would be unusual for spouses to die so close together if both died of tuberculosis maybe).

It would have been "phthisis pulmonalis" (lungs) or "phthisis"-something else referring to abdominal, I think -- two causes of death on certificates of ancestors of mine.

Maybe nobody really knew how to spell it and "decline" did the trick, lol.

Present at the death is a very specific term to describe someone who was there when the person died. It is used in conjunction with a number of other descriptions to make the person who informed the Registrar, but who was not a relative, a more 'reliable' informant. Examples are... Widow of deceased - Present at the death,Son - Present at the death, or simply Presnt at the death for someone who has no other 'qualification'.

In parts of Wales, TB is known as 'diciau', which can be translated as decline or decay. I gather that it was often transmitted through cows' milk before pasteurisation and so became a major cause of death in rural communities, typically striking people down in their 30s.

Any idea how old?

"decline" was quite a common term ... although I've seen it used more commonly for women


....... being the "gentler sex", women in novels of that era were always going into a decline!


I've always assumed it meant TB, or maybe a nervous condition.



sylvia

Thank you to all who have added notes. Much appreciated.
Charmian

This is a good site tp put in your favourites
www.antiquesmorbus .com

this is the term explained on that site

Decline
Tabes. A gradual sinking and wasting away of the physical faculties; any wasting disease, esp. pulmonary consumption; as, to die of a decline. --Dunglison. [Webster191

Also you had to pay for a doctor to attend, so it may just have the local priest who witnessed it. Does it say the name of the person present.
Also if they were prone to drinking, apparently it is possible to get lead poisoning from beer tankards because they were made from pewter
Marji.

One of my ancestors apparently died due to "Vistitation of God". Another was witnessed by my grand-dad as present at death, but my mum swore blind that grand-dad was down the pub at the time, and didn't turn up till the fella was well and truly dead. She remembers running to the pub to tell him, after a neighbour had chastised her for playing in the street while her grand-dad lay dead in his house.

Margaret