My Cause of Death Pedigree Chart

I think it's OK to be a bit morbid on Hallowe'en...

On the FamilySearch blog, Nathan Murphy posted his "Death Chart" with the causes of death of five generations of his ancestors in a pedigree chart.

Judy G. Russell and Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak have published their cause of death pedigree charts also.

Here's mine (done by creating a new tree in RootsMagic, and putting the cause of death in the Name field):

I added lifespan to all of the entries, but the Pedigree View in RootsMagic shows them only for three of the five generations.

The grim totals for cause of death include:

*  Cancer (all kinds) - 9 out of 31
*  Heart problems - 4
*  Stroke/cerebral hemorrhage - 3
*  Prostate problems - 2
*  Kidney problems - 2
*  Gall bladder problems - 2
*  Colon problems - 1
*  Ataxia - 1
*  Typhoid - 1
*  Pneumonia - 1
*  Anemia - 1
*  Arterial sclerosis - 1
*  Abscess - 1 (cancer tumor?)

That's kind of scary, isn't it?

Awareness is the best path to prevention or treatment, isn't it?

Have you done your "Cause of death" pedigree chart?

A final thought:

“I don't want my life to be defined by what is etched on a tombstone. I want it to be defined in what is etched in the lives and hearts of those I've touched.” 
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Me too!  I agree with that sentiment.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/10/my-cause-of-death-pedigree-chart.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver