Cause of Death

[darkerhorse]

I have a male ancestor who died in Siracusa Province, Sicily in 1899 at age 38.

Of course, cause of death wasn't recorded in civil records, and the church records have been destroyed by earthquakes, etc.

Was there any epidemic, war, or other event in that place at that time which could account for his premature death?

His father, who lived on the same street, happened to die two years earlier at age 75.

His wife died 30 years later, and his children died about 60 years later. So there wasn't any immediate family illness evident when he died.

[afecad]

I have a male ancestor who died in Siracusa Province, Sicily in 1899 at age 38.

Of course, cause of death wasn't recorded in civil records, and the church records have been destroyed by earthquakes, etc.

Was there any epidemic, war, or other event in that place at that time which could account for his premature death?

His father, who lived on the same street, happened to die two years earlier at age 75.

His wife died 30 years later, and his children died about 60 years later. So there wasn't any immediate family illness evident when he died.

It might have been a farming related accident, health related or mafia related, it's hard to speculate without much data.

My 3rd GG died at 35, nobody knows how, but we speculate it was a farming accident and even read of people being kicked by horses who died, safety back in that period was not as critical as it is today.

My 2nd GG were targeted to be hit by the La Mano Nera (Black Hand) in Pennsylvania, I have the newspaper articles detailing the account in the town he first lived in, others were murdered, especially in the mines, easy way to hide it. My GG and his brother were also involved in the Black Hand, I have newspaper articles detailing both their names, both testified when the police cracked down on them and this was a few years after my GG arrived from Italy in Pennsylvania.

[PippoM]

We can not exclude it was a non-epidemic health accident, such as appendicitis, or typhus, or an infection

[darkerhorse]

There's no increase in deaths that year so I doubt there was an epidemic, and there's no family story of violence so I doubt it was murder. Most likely individual illness or accident.