Daily AncestorCroup
Croup was an old name for any illness with a harsh, barking cough and labored breathing in children; before 1900 it often hid diphtheria.
Croup named a set of symptoms: a hoarse voice, a metallic or barking cough and noisy, struggling breathing, mostly in young children. It was not one disease.
Before vaccines, many fatal cases of croup were actually diphtheria in the windpipe. Milder viral croup existed too. The 1911 Britannica notes that registered croup deaths shifted to diphtheria as diagnosis improved.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Willie Snow, 3, M, W, Mich., February, Croup, 2 days
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Croup." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/croup. Last checked 2026-10-01.