Daily AncestorOssification of the heart
Ossification of the heart meant hard, bone-like deposits in the heart valves or its arteries, found by doctors and blamed for heart failure or sudden death.
Ossification means turning into bone. Doctors who opened the chest after death sometimes found stiff, chalky valves or arteries and called the condition ossification of the heart.
Today much of this would be called calcified heart valves, such as aortic stenosis, or hardened arteries. It usually affected older people and could cause sudden collapse.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Wm. Pierce, 68, M, W, Oct., Ossification of heart
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Ossification of the heart." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/ossification-of-the-heart. Last checked 2026-10-01.