The Federal Mortality Census Schedules record deaths registered by county during the year preceding the decennial censuses 1850-1880. Items of information recorded generally include...
- name
- age
- sex
- color
- free or enslaved
- married or widowed
- place of birth (state or territory in the U.S., or foreign country)
- month deceased
- profession
- disease, or cause of death
- number of days ill
- attending physician signature
- infrequently: how long the deceased resided in the county and the place where the disease was contracted if different than the place of death
Some schedules include an appendix listing by counties the physicians who were practicing at the time and whose signatures appear in the Mortality Records.
The Federal Mortality Census Schedules (1850, 1860) are the only census schedules where the names of slaves occasionally appear.
