Daily AncestorMilk sickness
Milk sickness was poisoning from milk or meat of cattle that had eaten white snakeroot, a deadly frontier illness in the Ohio Valley in the early 1800s.
Milk sickness struck people who drank milk or ate butter or beef from cows that had grazed on white snakeroot, a woodland plant containing a poison. Victims trembled, vomited and suffered severe stomach pain.
It killed thousands of settlers in the Midwest, especially along the Ohio River and its tributaries, before the cause was understood. Nancy Hanks Lincoln, mother of Abraham Lincoln, is believed to be one victim.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Rachel Byrd, 35, F, W, Married, Ind., September, Milk sickness, 7 days
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Daily Ancestor. "Milk sickness." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/milk-sickness. Last checked 2026-10-01.