Each of the United States federal censuses from 1850 to 1880 included a mortality schedule enumerating  individuals who had died in the previous year previous. Each entry noted family number in the population schedule, name, age, sex, color, marital status, place of birth, month of death, occupation, and cause of death.

Here is the 1870 mortality schedule for Spring Hill township, Wilson County:

• Creech, Infant. Age 1 week, died in March, unknown causes.
• Creech, Infant. Age 3 weeks, died in March, dropsy.

In the 1870 census of Spring Hill township, Wilson County: farm laborer George Creech, 40; wife Margaret, 35; and children Lucy, 7, John, 5, and Sarah, 1. Dropsy is an archaic term for a condition characterized by an accumulation of watery fluid in the tissues or in a body cavity, as from heart failure. Dropsy was not a disease in itself. Remarks: “Infants Creech and Barnes cause unknown. It is very difficult to determine the true cause of death of a great many colord infants seldom having a physician. Sometimes it is from want of attention or hereditary disease.”

• Deens, Simon. Age 19, farm laborer, died in February, consumption.

In the 1870 census of Spring Hill township, Wilson County: farmer Albert Adams, 50; wife Spicy, 37; and children Arch, 14, Arnold, 13, Frank, 7, Caroline, 5, and James, 2. Consumption is an archaic term for pulmonary tuberculosis.