PA –10,706

–10,706 US Census. Mortality Statistics of the Seventh Census…1850. 1855, p. 19.[1]

–10,706 US Census. “Zymotic diseases.” Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census 1860. 115.[2]

Note 1: “Croup is a condition that causes an inflammation of the upper airways – the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). It often leads to a barking cough or hoarseness, especially when a child cries. Most cases of croup are caused by viruses, usually parainfluenza virus and sometimes adenovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Viral croup is most common – and symptoms are most severe – in children 6 months to 3 years old, but can affect older kids too….” (KidsHealth from Nemours. “Infections; Croup.” Accessed 1-7-2015.)

Note 2: “….Before the advent of vaccination, croup was frequently caused by diphtheria, and was often fatal. This cause is now a historical one in the Western world due to the success of the diphtheria vaccine and improved hygiene and living standards….The word croup comes from the Early Modern English verb croup, meaning ‘to cry hoarsely’; the name was first applied to the disease in Scotland and popularized in the 18^th century.” (Wikipedia. “Croup.” 12-4-2014 modification. Accessed 1-7-2015 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup )

Note 3: In that a later Census report[3] notes that croup has historically been conflated with or mistaken for diphtheria, it notes deaths from croup for 1850 as 3,314 with the implication that the 10,706 figure includes diphtheria deaths.

Under 1 1-4 5-9 10-19 20-49 50-79 80-99 100+ Unknown Total

4,728 5,434 896 102 110 20 4 0 15 10,706

Note 4: Calculated U.S. population for 1850 was 23,191,876. U.S. Census, 1855, p. 37.

Breakout of Croup Deaths by State (from U.S. Census 1850):[4]

Alabama 329 (p. 51, line 30) 9,091 reported deaths all causes; p. 29.

Arkansas 38 (p. 55, line 30) 3,021 “

California 1 (p. 57, line 22) 905 “

Connecticut 6 (p. 61, line 23) 5,781 “

Delaware 28 (p. 63, line 24) 1,209 “

District of Columbia 29 (p. 59, line 23) 846 “

Florida 21 (p. 65, line 24) 931 “

Georgia, aggregate 344 (p. 77, line 2) 9,925 “

Illinois 477 (p. 87, line 26) 11,759 “

Indiana 505 (p. 91, line 24) 12,708 “

Iowa 97 (p. 93, line 21) 2,044 “

Kentucky 613 (p. 97, line 7) 15,033 “

Louisiana 142 (p. 109, line 10) 11,956 “

Maine 175 (p. 117, line 28) 7,584 “

Maryland 17 (p. 121, line 24) 9,621 “

Massachusetts 339 (p. 133, line 33) 19,404 “

Michigan 102 (p. 137, line 26) 4,515 “

Minnesota Territory 0 (p. 296-297) 29 “ No line for Croup.

Mississippi 398 (p. 153, line 25) 8,721 “

Missouri 431 (p. 155, line 29) 12,292 “

New Hampshire 75 (p. 159, line 24) 4,281 “

New Jersey 191 (p. 167, line 27) 6,465 “

New Mexico Territory 1 (p. 299, line 18) 1,157 “

New York 1,048 (p. 185, line 27) 45,600 “

North Carolina 324 (p. 199, line 27) 10,165 “

Ohio 1,081 (p. 219, line 30) 28,957 “

Oregon Territory 2 (p. 301, line 8) 47 “

Pennsylvania 1,006 (p. 235, line 27) 28,551 “

Rhode Island 45 (p. 239, line 22) 2,241 “

South Carolina 2 (p. 253, line 5) 8,047 “

Tennessee 652 (p. 265, line 26) 11,875 “

Texas 90 (p. 275, line 24) 8,057 “

Utah Territory 1 (p. 301, line 11) 239 “

Vermont 31 (p. 277, line 16) 8,129 “

Virginia 434 (p. 291, line 31) 19,059 “

Wisconsin 113 (p. 295, line 24) 2,908 “

Narrative Information

1850 Mortality Statistics Introduction: “It is more easy to satisfy mankind of the value of any other branch of statistics than that which relates to the numbers that die in any given period, their ages, their sex, occupation, condition and nativity, and the causes which produce such deaths. The consequence is that the facts remain uncollected or unrecorded, while everybody seems busy enough, more especially in our practical, money-making country, in running after those which relate to the fluctuation of stocks, the valuation of exports and imports, the rates of taxation and the results in agriculture and manufactures, internal improvements and general commerce. The life of man is of less importance than his larder and his cloth. It was the remark of a physician, now no more, founded on severe experience, that the lawyer who saved the property of his client was always quicker, better and more cheerfully paid than the doctor who saved his life. Steamboat and railroad companies understand this well enough, for whilst they must pay heavily for destroying a bundle of merchandise, in human life they can and do wanton at pleasure….” [p.5]

“The federal census of 1850 furnishes the first instance of an attempt to obtain the mortality during one year in all of the States of the Union,[5] and had there been as much care observed in the execution of the law as was taken in framing it, and in the preparation of necessary blanks, a mass of information must have resulted relating to the sanitary condition of the country, attained as yet in no other part of the world. This, however, would have been expecting too much. It was to take for granted, first, that the persons interrogated in each family, whoever he might be, with regard to its affairs, would be able to recollect whatever death had occurred in it within the period of twelve months; and second, to give the true designation of the cause of such death. One would think it not unreasonable that the facts of actual deaths would be striking and impressive enough in every household to be remembered for a much longer period than a single year, yet the returns of the marshals have only to be examined with care and deductions made from them, to satisfy the most careless observer that in the Union at large at least one-fourth of the whole number of deaths have not been reported at all. Making allowance for even this error, the United States would appear to be one of the healthiest countries of which there is any record. The varying ratios between the States, as drawn from the returns, show not so much in favor of or against the health of either…Thus it is impossible to believe Mississippi a healthier State than Rhode Island, etc….

So far as the educated are in question, the assigned causes of death on the returns, may be considered sufficiently near the truth for popular purposes, though falling far short of the precision necessary in skillful scientific calculations; but among the large mass of the community vagueness and inaccuracy may naturally be expected, even where the parties are disposed to speak the truth and make the best effort to do so. The physician’s certificate of the cause of death is the only positively reliable evidence of the fact….” [p. 8]

(De Bow, Superintendent, U.S. Census Office. Mortality Statistics of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. 1855, p. 5.)

Sources

KidsHealth from Nemours. “Infections; Croup.” Accessed 1-7-2015 at: http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/croup.html

United States Census Office, Department of the Interior. Mortality Statistics of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. By J. D. B. De Bow, Superintendent United States Census. Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, Printer, 1855. Accessed 2-23-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Aopc-5aHBjkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Also at: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

United States Census. Mortality Statistics of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850…of the Persons Reported to have Died in the Twelve Months Preceding the First of June of that Year. Washington: A. O. P. Nicholson, Printer, 1855. Google digitized. Accessed 1-6-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=PP4gXA-H0CoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Wikipedia. “Croup.” 12-4-2014 modification. Accessed 1-7-2015 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup

[1] There is no listing for Diphtheria. We include in the title given the 1860 Census note that the two had been conflated or confused with each other, and drops Croup deaths from 10,706 to 3,314. The impression is thus left that the difference (7,392) related to diphtheria deaths.

[2] United States Department of the Interior, Census Office. Preliminary Report on The Eighth Census, 1860 (Senate, 37^th Congress, 2^nd Session). Washington: GPO, 1862. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=R08UAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[3] U.S. Department of the Interior, Census Office. Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States as Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880)…Part II. Washington: GPO, 1886, p. xxxix. Google digitized:

http://books.google.com/books?id=wfNYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false )

[4] Table: “Classification of Deaths in the Several States,” starting at page 50.

[5] Thirty-one States, DC, and four territories (MN, NM, OR, UT). [p. 11.] It should be pointed out, however, that the reliability of the Territorial data is particularly to be questioned. MN shows 29 deaths from all causes, NY, 1,157, OR, 47, and UT, 239.