Daily AncestorNeuralgia
Neuralgia meant sharp, stabbing pain along the course of a nerve, such as in the face; it was rarely fatal, but it appears on old records.
The word joins Greek for nerve and pain. Webster's 1913, quoting Dunglison, describes very acute pain that comes and goes along a nerve and its branches, with no visible damage.
IPUMS codes neuralgia with hysteria, sciatica and neuritis in its scheme for the 1850 to 1880 mortality schedules. Since nerve pain alone seldom kills, a death given as neuralgia may have had another cause behind it.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Lydia Shank, 55, F, W, Neuralgia
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Neuralgia." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/neuralgia. Last checked 2026-10-10.