Genesis of the Board of Health and Vital Statistics in Pennsylvania

GENESIS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH AND VITAL STATISTICS IN PENNSYLVANIA. JAMES V. P. TURNER, REGISTRAR. It must always remain a matter of surprise to the inquirer into the social history of Pennsylvania that in so well ordered a government as that designed by the founder, no provision should have been made for the registry of births, marriages and burials occurring in the Province. While in the 22d section of the "Laws agreed upon in England," April 22d, 1682, it is provided that "there shall be a register of births, marriages, burials, wills and letters of administration distinct from the other registry," no such registry was instituted. That the need for such was soon felt may be inferred from the passage of an act in 1700, "That the registry now kept or which may hereafter be kept by any religious society in their respective meeting book or books, of any marriage, birth or burial within this province or territories hereof, shall be held good and authentic, and shall be allowed upon all occasions whatsoever." This appears to be the earliest legislation upon this subject, and was only partial in its benefits. These records, however, assumed a special value by virtue of it, and were the only records maintained until early in the present century. The issuing of marriage licenses, although commenced as early as 1682, appears to have met with much opposition, not only as to the legal right of the Proprietor to issue them but to the benefits sought to be obtained thereby. No less an authority than Bishop White, in his correspondence with Governor Mifflin in 1790, contends that the law facilitates the accomplishment of the evils it was intended to prevent. ( 193 ) 194 Genesis of the Board of Health. While a list of the marriage licenses issued by the Provincial Secretary has been preserved, no record exists of the marriages thus authorized. The Board of Health of the city of Philadelphia was organized in 1794, but its powers were limited to the establishment of Quarantine regulations for the Port and to the prevention of inTectious and contagious diseases ; it was not until April 1, 1803, that an act was passed prescribing that the burials in the public ground should be reported weekly to the Board of Health ; this Act was repealed by the Act of March 17, 1806, which among other things provided that all burials in the city should be reported weekly, and requiring that no burial should be permitted except upon the production of a writing signed by the attending physician, or by a member of the household in which the decedent dwelt, giving the name of the deceased, age and cause of death. Under this Act returns were made with more or less accuracy, and from them a statement of the annual mortality was compiled and published ; no provision, however, was made for their registry. By the Act of 29 January, 1818, the reporting of burials weekly to the Board of Health was extended to all burial grounds in the County of Philadelphia. This Act was still further improved by the Act of April 1, 1819, by which practitioners of midwifery were required to register their names and residences at the Health Office under a penalty of fifty (50) dollars. It was not until 1821 that any attempt appears to have been made to publish the number of births occurring annually. These statements show the sex and total number of births—this information was obtained by visiting physicians, and ascertaining from them the number of accouchments they had attended, and were, doubtless, very incomplete. The first REGISTRY of the decedents by name was commenced in 1832; from then until 1838 the record is meagre. From January 1, 1838, until July 1, 1860, the Genesis of the Board of Health. 195 record is more complete, and gives in addition to the name, the age, cause of death, attending physician, and place of burial. The Registration Act of March 8, 1860, became operative on the first day of the succeeding July, and is the Act under which registration is made at the present time ; it embodies all of the best features of previous legislation, and extends the same to the registration of clergymen, aldermen or magistrates, sextons and others, and provides for the reporting of births monthly, giving the name of the child, date of birth, color, place of birth, names of parents, and occupation of father. Marriages show the names of the contracting parties, residence, nativity, age, color, name of person performing the ceremony, denomination and place of residence. Certificates of death are as heretofore, with the addition of the nativity of the decedent, and, when a minor, the names of the parents. This Act applies to the city of Philadelphia only, and it is well to note here that until 1870 no law upon this subject applied to any other portion of the Commonwealth. In 1870 an act was passed very similar in its provisions to the Act of 1860, for the city of Pittsburgh. Under the Act of June 8, 1885, "The State Board of Health and Vital Statistics" was organized. It further provided for the establishment of Boards of Health in the various towns and boroughs of the State, authorizing such boards to establish registry offices ; but as the organization of the local boards is not compulsory, it may likely be many years before its benefits extend to every portion of the Commonwealth. In the early days of the Province, and until a generation after the close of the war for Independence, burial grounds were usually owned by the various church congregations, and were very frequently adjacent to the church ; the public ground was more truly a public ground than is implied by that term at the present time, and while in a sense it 196 Geneiris of the Board of Health. was a Potter's Field, as it was sometimes called, nevertheless was the place of sepulture of others than those who were perforce interred therein at the public charge, being the usual place for the burial of strangers, or of those not associated with any religious society. The opposition to burial away from the precincts of any church, or in undenominational grounds, was strongly manifested about the period of the establishment of the Philadelphia Cemetery or " Ronaldson's Ground," as it is more usually called, but in course of time the prejudice died out, and some of the most picturesque sites have been dedicated to this purpose. An account of Registration in Philadelphia would be incomplete without reference to the valuable collection of mortuary statements published annually by the Parish of Christ Church and S. Peter's, and including the baptisms and marriages, commencing with that Parish in 1742. It finally included returns from all available sources, and, with the exception of the years covered by the war of the Revolution, extended to the year 1808, when the official publication vested in the Board of Health. Thus by private means giving to the community the most valuable statistical accounts of the movement of population and of the conditions of health for upwards of seventy years. The public records now preserved are as follows : Marriages. From July 1, 1860. None recorded prior to that date. Births. From July 1, 1860. None recorded prior to that date. Burials. None prior to 1803. 1803. Incomplete returns of burials in the Public Ground. 1804. No record. 1805. Incomplete returns of burials in the Public Ground. 1806 to 1834. About 90,000 certificates not recorded. 1834 to July 1, 1860. About 200,000 certificates recorded. Genesis of the Board of Health. 197 July 1, 1860, to the present time. Complete records. In conclusion, it cannot fail to excite our wonder that so important an element in the history of our community as these records should have been neglected, and that while from the earliest times ample provision should have been made for the registering of wills and deeds, which affect but a limited number of individuals, these no less important records, which affect each individual in the community in his person as well as his property, should have been overlooked. Gabriel Thomas, in his "History of Philadelphia and the Provinces, 1697," says, "Of Lawyers and Physicians I shall say nothing, because the Country is very beautiful and healthy," and this may account in part for the absence of early registration laws. December 19, 1898. [The statement on page 193, that no early registry of births, deaths, and marriages, was established, requires modification. Such registries were established in Bucks and Philadelphia Counties at least, but were not kept up many years. See Battle's Hist. Bucks Co., p. 681-2.—En.]