Anatomy of a St. Paul Death Register

The old mortuary registers have a surprising amount of information in them. Even 150 years ago, data helped health officials know when to sound the alarm about outbreaks of illnesses. This was especially important because of how lethal or permanently harmful these illnesses could be.

Mortuary registers for St. Paul listed the name of the commissioner of health at the top of each page. In 1881, the commissioner of health was Dr. Charles Augustus Wheaton, Jr..

The work Dr. Wheaton (who died in 1916) oversaw as health commissioner occurred decades before the vaccines people argue most about now even existed; and before government programs like WIC or SNAP supported families struggling to afford food. If you were sick or starving, luck had a lot to do with whether you died, survived, or survived with long-term health challenges.

These old mortuary registers consolidated the information about deaths in a town/city/county. St. Paul's mortuary register collected:

• Name
• Sex
• Age (in days, months, years)
• State or county of birth (this is very loosely interpreted, and often just says "U.S." or their country of birth if not in the U.S.)
• Color
• Date (of death)
• Cause of death
• Place of death
• Occupation
• Nationality of parents
• Social relation (married/single/widowed)
• By whom certified (name of doctor, midwife, etc.)

Example Deaths

The image above contains four rows of deaths from the summer of 1881^[1]. They are transcribed below, along with potential questions that could be answered with other records.

Mary was a 28 year old white woman who died on June 30, 1881, of peritonitis^[2] on E. 7th St. She was born in the United States to German parents and is married. Her death was certified by William Richeson. The age and manner in which Mary died is one I would look into further if I wanted to understand why she had peritonitis.^[3]

Walter was a 10 month old white boy who died on June 17, 1881, of acute meningitis^[4] on Lafayette. He was born in the United States. His death was certified by C.E. Smith.

Selma was a 4 year, 10 month year old white girl who died of tubercular meningitis^[5] on June 19, 1881, on 3rd and Arcade. She was born in Norway to Norwegian parents. Her death was certified by C.E. Smith.

Anna was a 17 year old white girl who died of pulmonary tuberculosis on June 30, 1881, on Marshall Ave. She was born in the United States to German parents and was single. Her death was certified by J. Davenport.

The youth of these four individuals is not abnormal; on the death register page we're referring to, of the 42 individuals listed, only six are over 40 years old.