Estimates of Infant Mortality on the Western Frontier: The Use of Genealogical Data

Abstract

Data from the Mormon Historical Demography Project are evaluated and used to analyze infant mortality in Utah in the mid-nineteenth century. The authors describe the population under observation evaluate the quality of the genealogical records present infant mortality estimates for birth cohorts in the years 1850-1919 and assess the social-historical and epidemiological conditions that helped shape these patterns. Possible underreporting and potential sources of bias in the genealogical data base are assessed and the pattern of decline in infant mortality and contributing factors are discussed. The findings show that an incipient decline in infant mortality appeared within both core and periphery areas as early as the cohort of the 1870s though a truly secular decline did not take place until the early 1890s. (EXCERPT)

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