CAUSES OF DEATH

James A. McCarthy
born July 1867 in Newark, NJ
died November 17, 1900, in Newark, NJ - age 33 years.

Father: Unknown
Mother: Unknown

Spouse: Mary

Cause of death: Enteric Fever

Enteric Fever is more commonly known as Typhoid Fever. It is a potentially fatal disease caused primarily by the Salmonella Typhi parasite. The usual symptoms are fever and extreme abdominal pain. It is a grueling illness that may progress to delerium, intestinal hemmorage, perforatied bowel, and death.

James was the Newark Police Commishioner when he contracted the disease. Usually of robust health, he was not worried when he deveoped what he though was just a cold back in August. On the morning of November 3, he remarked to members of his family that he was not well and was advised to remanin in bed. Since this was not in his nature to stay home when duty called, he went out and spent most of the day attending to the reqirements of his office. That night, before retiring for bed, he took remedies for a cold from which he supposed he was suffering. From that time, he never left his bed.

Over the course of the next several days, doctors were called in to treat him, and it was finally determined that he had typhoid fever, and his condition was very grave. A week before his death, he contracted spinal meningitis and hopes for any kind of recovery were lost. He lapsed in and out of consciousness and died on the 17th of November, surrounded by his wife, Mary, his 10-year-old son Joseph, his sister, Mary Ellen Murphy, with her husband, Matthew F. Murphy.

James was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Newark.

LYNN'S FAMILY WEBPAGE