Natural Causes
The “hand of God” is an active presence in CSI:D files. To be sure, the Almighty took no part in the suicides and homicides; those were the work of men “not having God Before [their] Eyes But moved by the instigation of the Devil.” Deaths that could be traced to what we would call ‘natural causes,’ however, were typically deemed an ‘act of God,’ a ‘visitation by God,’ or the ‘dispensation of Providence.’
Such cases expand on the point made in the introduction that coroners’ inquests paint a very particular portrait of death in the nineteenth-century South. The stock and trade of the coroner’s office were sudden deaths, especially those that intruded upon the public view. An old man succumbing to slow cancer in his own home was unsuspicious and unlikely to be investigated. This explains why heart attacks and strokes (which they called apoplexy) figure more prominently than fever among the ‘hand of God’ cases in these files. It also explains the relative frequency of deaths that occurred out-of-doors. Daniel Brown died in his cotton field; Jane Laniere died “in the woods near the public road”; Hartwell Roper “fell dead ... at his plow.”
The words ‘Hand of God’ were also used in cases where the deceased had been struck by lightning. (In perhaps the strangest case, Broderick Mason and his enslaved girl, Cinthy, were killed by the same lightning bolt, a sure sign that God does not play favorites.) Despite the similarity in terminology, however, lightning deaths have been filed as accidents because, like cave ins and train crashes, they are cases of people simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time and however ‘natural’ they might seem they are not a ‘natural death.’
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Natural Causes Inquests
| Name | Deceased Description | Date | Inquest Location |
Death Method |
Inquest Finding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| slave | slave | May 31, 1832 | Kershaw County, SC |
do unanimously believed that the said negro woman deceased formerly the property of Isaac Mothershed now lying Dead came to her death by an act of God |
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| infant child | infant child | August 9, 1837 | on the plantation of Mr. Austin Wilson, Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the said Child . . .died by the visitation of God in a natural way |
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| David S. Threatt | July 15, 1924 | at Dudley Chesterfield County S. C., Chesterfield County, SC |
I decided that under the clear facts of the surroundings that it was unnecessary to empanel a Jury to decided how he came to his death as there was no the least suspicion or doubt that the deceased came to his death by natural causes from an affliction which usually and natural terminates fatal and suddenly. |
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| Robert Vandever | May 16, 1879 | at Winnsboro, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: that the deceased came to his death on or about the 12th of May AD 1879 in the town of Winnsboro S.C from disease of the heart |
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| Saul Bates | January 24, 1815 | at James Johnsons mill, Laurens County, SC |
do say on their oaths are of the opinion that the sd. Saul Betts on the 24th of Jany. 1815 Came to his death by the Act of God at James Johnsons mill in the district afore sd. |
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| Morriss unknown | free man of color | January 7, 1858 | at Grief Tater's residence, Anderson County, SC |
do say the said that Morris (a free man of color)?more than probably came to his death by dropsy of the heart |
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| Reuben Johnson | March 11, 1881 | Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths ... do say that the said Reuben Johnson ... came to his death from natural causes |
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| Isaac Jones | July 1, 1881 | at Ridge Spring, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the deceast came to his death from Nattural Causese the visitation of Providence |
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| infant child | infant child | February 28, 1877 | at Greenville CH, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said infant child of Ella Mitchell came to his death caused by congestion of the liver stomach & bowels |
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| Emaline | slave | April 4, 1862 | at R. G. H. Faws[?], Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say . . .that the deseast came to her death by the visitation of god or some unknown cause |
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| Ellison Blakney | October 4, 1896 | at Hick's Mine Place, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the said Ellison Blakney came to his death from heart trouble |
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| Mandy Richerson | February 18, 1929 | on Jule Campbell's Place, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: Mandy Richerson came to her Death from natural causes |
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| Daniel Johnson | May 19, 1871 | at John T. Johnsons, Horry County, SC |
upon their Oaths do Say that the said Daniel Johnson infant came to his death by the hand of God |
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| Martha McFarlan | September 20, 1890 | at Robert Mcfarlan, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon thire oaths do say that the Said Martha McFarling came to her death from natural causes to the Jury unknown |
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| Unknown Infant | Unknown Infant | February 23, 1883 | at Chesterfield C. H., Chesterfield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say That the said Infant Child came to his death from som cause or causes unknown to the Jurors and that there was no foul play |
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| Amanda Hogan | May 11, 1898 | at the late residence of Miss Amanda Hogan, Kershaw County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Amanda Hogan came to her death from natural and providential causes |
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| Cooper | slave | March 17, 1852 | at the plantation of L.H. Mundy decd, Edgefield County, SC |
where & when & by what means the Said Slave, Cooper came to his death By acute Gastro Duodinitis[?] |
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| Mary Adams | September 23, 1885 | at Mary Adams, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the Said Mary Adams came to her death by Sum natural caus or causes unknow to the jurys |
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| Charles Aiken | at the Bell place, Fairfield County, SC |
upo their Oaths do say that the deceased Charles Aiken, came to his death form Rupture of a blood vesel at Narthers Church[.] |
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| David Jeans | March 5, 1870 | Laurens County, SC |
We the undersigned Jurors do say that we believe the said david Jeans freedman came to his death by the Visitation of God. |
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| Beller McAlester | March 11, 1876 | at house of deceased, Anderson County, SC |
do say that she came to her death by the act of God in a applect fitt [sic] |
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| Alex Black | October 27, 1884 | at Philadelphia in Spartanburg County, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that he came to his death from disease of the brain in his field some two hundred yards from his house |
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| Ann Eliza Loid | June 29, 1891 | at William Loid's, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon there oaths Do say that Said Lizar Loid came to her Death from Heart Disease By falling on the floor on the 28th June 1891 |
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| Mrs. May M. White | January 22, 1885 | at E. P. Whites, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: That the said Mrs. Mary M. White came to her death by some natural cause or causes, on the 22nd day of January A.D. 1885 |
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| Martha Lanham | January 29, 1892 | at Wilts[?] Curryes place, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oaths do Say that Marsha Lanham Came to her death from hart failure |
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| Elizabeth Cook | May 27, 1881 | at Greenville, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that. . . the said Elizabeth came to her death from heart disease |
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| Limbrick | negro child a slave | July 22, 1856 | at Wm. R. A. Thomas's, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that limbrick here lying dead came to his death by a visitation of god |
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| Laura Doneyhue | October 17, 1901 | at the Plantation of Geo Gregory, M.D., Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: nothin other than natural causes |
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| Thos P. Milnor | February 5, 1849 | at Winnsboro, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Thos. P. Milnor came to his death by a visitation of Providence |
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| Hillary Suber | July 9, 1883 | at Mrs N.B. Copelands plantation, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Hillary Suber came to his death on the plantation of Mrs NB Copeland from Heart Disease |
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| Infant of J. L. Hancock | Infant of J. L. Hancock | March 3, 1899 | at J.S. Oliver's, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths, do say: the child come to its death by natural causes |
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| Unknown Infant | Unknown Infant | [no location given], Chesterfield County, SC |
[No official declaration] |
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| Chanya | slave | December 31, 1849 | at A.G.W. Gordon's, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that she came to her death by infirmity and old age |
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| Harriet | negro woman | July 20, 1859 | at the residence of JB Rease, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that the said negro woman. . .died by the visitation of God |
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| negro child | negro child | October 11, 1857 | at T. C. Lesters, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that she came to her death by strangling or choking with phlegm |
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| M. H. Miller | April 10, 1889 | at W. T. H. Miller's, Spartanburg County, SC |
upon there oaths do say that from the evidence given Martha Miller died with heart disease |
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| Adam Eubanks | April 19, 1894 | at the residence of the deceased, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that Adam Eubanks died from natural causes on the night of the 18th April 1894 at his residence |
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| Wiley W. Gandy | November 18, 1912 | at Steer Pen, Chesterfield County, SC |
the Said W W Gandy came to his death we find that the deceast W W Gandy came to his death by Natural causes |
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| Nettie Frazier | at the plantation of Mrs. Nancy Youngue, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased came to its death from the effects of Whooping cough[.] |
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| Frank Milton | child | January 26, 1894 | at Sanders Loricks, Edgefield County, SC |
upon their oath do say: that said Frank Milton aforesaid came to his death from natural causes, that is to say from inflammation of the lungs |
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| Lydia Parish | December 6, 1835 | at the house of Mrs. L. Parrish on Rutledge Street in the town of Camden, Kershaw County, SC |
find no reason to suppose the deceased came to her death otherwise than by the act of God or in the course of nature from diesease the particular character of which is unknown to us |
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| negro child a slave | negro child a slave | January 27, 1835 | on the plantation of T Hooker, Union County, SC |
do say upon their oaths that the Sd child . . .died by the visitation of god in a natural way |
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| Simney Harrington | August 7, 1868 | at Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that there appearing no signs of violence on his body the deceased came to his death by the visitation of God. |
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| Andrew Boney | July 26, 1879 | at Ridgeway, Fairfield County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that from the Certificate of two Physicians who reached him in his dying moment that he come to his death from Heart disease[.] |
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| George | April 21, 1858 | at Dr J G Tragham's, Laurens County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the deceased came to his death by the act of God. |
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| Sophia Hall | March 19, 1859 | at or near Samuel Martin's residence, Anderson County, SC |
do say that no marks of violence could be seen on her body that she the said Sphia came to her death by the hand of God. |
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| Mariah Pincy | July 10, 1881 | Spartanburg County, SC |
upon their oaths aforesaid do say that said Mariah Princey ... came to her death from heart disease |
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| Milledge Stuard | October 8, 1881 | at Mount [??] Yard, Edgefield County, SC |
upon there oths do say the said Milledge Stuard Came to his death from some unknown Cause to us but Suppose from heart Disease |
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| L. O'Brien | August 5, 1877 | at Greenville CH, Greenville County, SC |
upon their oaths do say that the said Mrs. L. B. O'Brien came to her death from a natural cuase to[?] with[?] by a disease known as paralasis of the brain |
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| William Fisher | September 12, 1855 | at the home of Sarah Vanderford, Union County, SC |
upon their oaths do say . . .that they are of opinion that the Said William Fisher died a natural death by [?] and by the act of God |
