Iowa Mortality Schedules - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Iowa

What is in this Collection?
The collection consists of an index and images of mortality schedules from Iowa. Mortality schedules include individuals who died in the year preceding the federal census. Mortality schedules exist for the census year 1850, 1860, and 1880. Census enumerators requested information from the head of household about deaths that had occurred in the year prior to the census. In 1918 to 1919, the Bureau of the Census distributed the original schedules to states or to the National Library of the Daughters of the American Revolution when states were not interested. Mortality schedules list those deceased during the year prior to the census. This is a small percentage of the total population. At the time of the 1870 census, it was surmised that as many as one-third of all deaths were not reported. For instance, when a family was scattered by the death of the head of household, there was no one left to report it. In 1880 a supplemental report from attending physicians added 60,000 additional names to the schedules.

In the absence of vital registration in many states, mortality schedules provided nationwide death statistics for one year of each decade, 1850–1880. According to the official statistical report for 1870, this was done to assess the death rate for age-groups, sex, race, nationality, and occupation and to “deduc[e] the effect of the various conditions of life upon the duration of life.”

Census mortality schedules are usually accurate, but this accuracy depended on the knowledge of the informant and the care of the census enumerator.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Information in the records may vary by year but they usually contain the following:


 * Name, age, gender, and color of deceased
 * Free person or slave
 * Whether married or widowed
 * Birthplace (state, territory, or country)
 * Month in which death occurred
 * Occupation (profession or trade)
 * Cause of death
 * If parents were foreign born (1870 Census only)
 * Length of residence in the United States (1880 Census only)
 * Father’s and mother’s birthplace (1880 Census only)

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. To begin your search, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the individual
 * The date of the event or the name of a spouse or parent

View the Images
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 * 2) Select County
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I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
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 * Use the age or estimated birth date to determine an approximate birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, and marriage records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

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Citing This Collection
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