Daily AncestorMumps
Mumps is a viral childhood disease with painful swelling of the glands below the ears; deaths were rare, but it does appear in old records.
Webster's 1913 defines mumps as an infectious fever with inflammation of the parotid glands, the salivary glands in front of the ears. The name probably came from the patient's sulky appearance.
Complications were rare but included deafness and inflammation of other organs. IPUMS groups mumps with chicken pox and German measles in its codes for the 1850 to 1880 mortality schedules.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Henry Gough, 11, M, W, Mar., Mumps
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Mumps." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/mumps. Last checked 2026-10-10.