Die of old age and in old age in Los Altos de Jalisco: The parrish of Encarnación, 1778–1822

Abstract

Burial books of the parish of Encarnación (1778-1822) showed that one of the most frequent causes of adult death was old age. However, with the information provided by the burial books, only the frequency, calidad and sex of the deceased due to old age could be analyzed. In order to obtain more evidence of who they were and how the old people lived, the method of rebuilding families was used. Thus, it was possible to know that those over 50 were classified as old, that the majority maintained the head of household until their death and that old age did not mean residential loneliness.