Daily AncestorIntemperance
Intemperance on a death record means heavy drinking, a death that the doctor or family blamed on alcohol.
Temperance meant moderation, and intemperance the lack of it, almost always in drink. The word reflects the moral language of the temperance movement of the 1800s.
The entry says more about how a death was seen than about the medical cause. Liver disease, accidents or exposure while drunk could all be recorded as intemperance.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Patk. Ward, 48, M, W, Laborer, March, Intemperance
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Intemperance." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/intemperance. Last checked 2026-10-01.