Week 43 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Prompt - Cause of Death

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 43

Prompt - Cause of Death

There are a variety of places where one can find the cause of death. Many years ago the newspaper obituaries would often say in their printed obituaries. An example of this is my uncle Wally McLaughlin's Obituary.

The “in lieu of flowers” might shed some idea of how that person died. For example in lieu of flowers please donate to your local cancer group. Lately I find the wording even more vague. Such as Jane Smith died after a lengthy illness or Jane Smith died peacefully in her sleep. Such is the case of dad's older brother, John Peters' (1908 – 1976) Obituary.

Sometimes you find out from published family histories as is the case of my maternal great grandfather who married a Mueller / Miller. David Peters married Katharina Mueller on January 5^th, 1859 in Southern Russia. A Mennonite by the name of Jake Buhler traced back 8 generations of Millers. He wrote an excellent piece on the Miller family history. His third generation discovery of Peter Miller and how he went from Catholic to Martyr Hutterite.

Another source of cause of death can be the family's eulogy. I have a copy of my grandfather's eulogy. That is Andreas Krikau who died in Chicago on December 29, 1946. I may not know specifically how he died but that he had been ill for some time and had operations before he died.

 One other source is by asking a close family member to the diseased. I asked my younger sister about my grandmother's (Mary McLaughlin) decline and final demise. Bonnie wrote a letter to me in 2017 where she discussed the facts as she remembered. She remembers her being well and lucid when she came to visit her newest great granddaughter, Lynn in the hospital - June, 1987. One month later grandma was taken to the hospital due to confusion and suffered a stroke. At this time her speech was gone and one side of her body was limp. Over the next two years Grandma deteriorated and was bedridden needing everything to be done for her. Grandma died August 1, 1989 while waiting for an operation to amputate her gangrenous leg. I did not know or maybe I did not remember that she had a gangrenous leg. Her cause of death was more than stroke! Perhaps Sepsis.

The definitive way to find out the cause of death is by the death registration of which I have both copies of my mother and father's.

My father, Jacob Peters, died September 22, 1983 of Cancer. I remember the day that mom told us he had cancer. I was living in Regina and mom and dad in Saskatoon. Dad had an exploratory operation on March 17^th. She told me that the “luck of the Irish” had run out on him and that it was incurable cancer. It was an all too short time between finding out and when he died. On a death certificate it almost always has the primary cause of death as well as any contributing secondary causes. His immediate cause of death was listed by his doctor as “Secondary Adenocarcinoma”. This means the same type of cancer as the primary cancer but at a different spot. His antecedent causes leading to the immediate cause of death was firstly adenocancer of the liver preceded by adenocancer of the pancreas. The approximate time from onset to death was 1 year for the secondary adenocarcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the liver. For the adenocarcinoma of the pancreas it was 1 1/2 years. It notes that he had the surgery on March 17^th as I mentioned above. What I find strange is that just 6 months before, he was diagnosed by his surgery. So I presume based on the size etc. at the operation he had the cancer for close to a year before he sought out medical help and was diagnosed. I also presume that is why we were told it was cancer of the liver and the first I heard of it being from his pancreas was on the death certificate.

As an aside on perusing his death certificate it lists his address as “422” Witney Ave and should have been “442” Witney. That is a cautionary note that even on legal documents things can be wrong.

My mother. Lydia Vivian Peters nee Sullivan died January 24, 1987. The family use to say she died of a “broken heart”because she never got over dad's passing. We were not too far off on that cause. On her death registration her immediate cause of death was “myocardial infarction” which is commonly known as heart attack. It said it was two weeks from the onset to death. According to my younger sister who was there and witnessed the whole thing, she had a cardiac arrest on January 1^st of which 8 people were working on her to revive her. So in reality it was 3 weeks prior to her death. Her antecedent causes was A.S.H.D. which she had for 15 years. That is “atherosclerotic heart disease” which is the thickening and hardening of the coronary arteries. It is the thing that makes me take my cholesterol pills in order to prevent it.  The doctor listed her Diabetes as a condition adding to the cause but not causing her death.

Cause of death can be found if you do not have the death certificate. Saskatchewan Vital Statistics does not allow you to order a relative's death certificate until 70 years has passed. I found this out trying to get my grandfather, Franz Peters' who died April 16, 1952. Just 3 or so years until I will try again.

Wendy