Daily AncestorFalling sickness
Falling sickness is the old name for epilepsy, a condition of recurring seizures; it was also called fits.
Falling sickness was the long-standing English name for epilepsy, from the way people collapsed during seizures. In the 1840s United States the term was still in use, and epilepsy was often treated as a form of insanity.
Fits or convulsions on a record can mean epilepsy, but in infants they usually reflect fever or another illness, so read the age carefully.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Jos. Kemp, 31, M, W, Single, Ohio, March, Falling sickness, 1 day
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Daily Ancestor. "Falling sickness." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/falling-sickness. Last checked 2026-10-01.