The 1850 Federal Census was a major break in how the United States collected data. It was the first year that every member of the household was listed, along with their occupation, literacy, school participation, value of personal holdings and disabilities. There were actually 6 different schedules taken, of which the Population Schedule of Free Inhabitants is the best known and utilized today. The five remaining schedules are: Slave Inhabitants, Mortality, Agriculture, Industry and Social Statistics.

Because there wasn't a standardized system of collecting death registrations throughout the United States, the government devised the Mortality Schedule, in order to systematically compile data on the types of illness and accidents that affected the population and resulted in death. The schedule list only the people that died within 1 year prior to the beginning of the enumeration. The time period ran from June 1, 1849 through May 31, 1850.

There are 11 columns in the Mortality Schedule and they are broken down as follows:

1 - Name of Every Person who died during the allotted time period,
      whose usual place of abode at the time of death was with his/her
      family
2 - Age
3 - Sex
4 - Color (White, Black, Mulatto)
5 - Free or slave
6 - Married or widowed
7 - Place of Birth (State, Territory or Country)
8 - The month the person died.
9 - Profession, Occupation or Trade
10 - Disease or cause of death
11 - Number of days ill

The spellings of the names have been corrected, but the spellings describing the illnesses have been left intact, in order to see what the names of these old diseases were originally called.