Brothers Thomas and Christer

[Katie]

http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/kirjat/ ... -378/7.htm
The above link shows the deaths of the brothers mentioned above. Thomas died on 01 Jun 1740 and Christer died 08 Jun 1740.
I don't believe there is a cause of death on their entries but would appreciate your confirmation. There were 27 deaths in Rovaniemi in 1740 - 3 families had multiple deaths so I assume we are looking at illness as opposed to Christer and Thomas having an accident. I also checked some of the surrounding communities in Hiski but did not find any causes of death entered.
Any idea of what illness was going around in 1740?
Kiitos
Janice

[EevaH]

Yes, you are right, there is no cause of death mentioned, as usual before the priests got the order to write it in their burial log, which happened 1749 or so. I do not know about your area, here in Savo the priests often mentioned, if the death was caused by an accident, even before that. Here the mortality was somewhat higher in 1740 than in the other years 1738-41, maybe 20 % or so, but I have not found an explanation. Customarily the death rate varies by the year more than births or weddings. As there are no records available, even the books about mortality in history do not comment death causes by year.

[Katie]

Thank you, Eevah, for your reply. I knew it would be hard to find a common disease from the 1700's but thought I would try. I tried to find a common disease that was in the area at that time by searching the internet but did not find anything. The mystery will stay a mystery.
Thanks for your help, I appreciate it very much.
Have a nice weekend.
Janice