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Mortality Schedules

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An unidentified girl wearing a mourning dress
holds a picture of her father.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

In 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1885 (applicable state censuses), the census included inquiries about persons who had died in the year immediately preceding the enumeration (Figure 2). In general, the questions covered the following topics:

• Name
• Age at last birthday
• Sex
• Race
• Marital status
• Profession, occupation, or trade
• State, territory, or country of birth of person and parents
• Length of residence in county
• Month in which person died
• Disease or cause of death
• Place where disease contracted (if not at place of death)
• Name of attending physician

A listing of available mortality schedules, by state and year, is available here [PDF 32KB].