I found a page that explains some of the terms used for causes of deaths during the Civil War Era. http://www.geocities.com/jleago/CivilWarDisease.html Appoplexy was one of my ancestor's cause of death and found the word Appopletic on this page to mean a modern day equivalent of a stroke. Consumption was another that stumped me and was impossible to find the meaning of in modern dictionaries and thruough searchs online. Consumption was the same thing as TB. I still don't understand the definition of Dropsy. And I wondered if anyone could tell me if Typhoid fever is the same thing as Typhus. If it is I don't know what Typhus was either. One more question, I had quite a few ancestor's young children die around 1905 that I have yet to find their cause of death, was there a disease outbreak in that time frame that anyone knows about? I appreciate your time, and would be indebted to any responses. Thank You.