Daily AncestorChildbed fever
Childbed fever, or puerperal fever, was a bacterial infection of the womb after childbirth or miscarriage, a major cause of death among new mothers.
Childbed fever and puerperal fever were names for infection of the reproductive tract in the days after a woman gave birth or miscarried. Fever, pain and blood poisoning could follow quickly.
Before antiseptic practice, birth attendants and doctors often carried the infection from patient to patient. A woman whose death falls within days or weeks of a baptism or birth record may well have died this way.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Lucy Ward, 24, F, W, Married, Vt., April, Puerperal fever, 8 days
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Daily Ancestor. "Childbed fever." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/childbed-fever. Last checked 2026-10-01.