Daily AncestorStruck by lightning
Struck by lightning on an old record means death from a lightning strike, a risk for farm families working in open fields or sheltering under trees.
Lightning can stop the heart or breathing at once and also causes burns and other injuries. Farmers, field workers and people outdoors during summer storms were the most exposed.
Such deaths were often reported in local newspapers, and a few mortality schedules gave the details in the cause column. The entry is literal, not a figure of speech.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Jacob Lutz, 34, M, W, Farmer, June, Struck by lightning
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Daily Ancestor. "Struck by lightning." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/struck-by-lightning. Last checked 2026-10-01.