in 1866 - that was old age.
Kind of. The average life expectancy was mid 40s because of high child mortality rates. But if you managed to live until 60, you had a decent chance of making it to 80.
Right. They didn’t have modern medicine, but they also didn’t have a McDonald’s or KFC on every corner or live in a world where every third adult was obese.
So, doctors have always written illegibly?
Note, if you look at the death certificate, “Exhaustion of vital power(s)” is listed as the direct cause of death, the apoplexy merely being indirect. We should dig into old medical encyclopediae to see what they have to say, otherwise, if you interpret the words too literally, it sounds a little like the direct cause of death was that he stopped living!
I know three of his children died in their seventies, and one lived to 82. One died at 37, and his obituary makes no mention of why. Haven’t gotten his death certificate yet.