While digging through old church records for my Guerin ancestors in Morristown, New Jersey, I came across an entry that made me pause.

“Robert Todd, found dead in the road. Verdict of Jury, came to his death by visitation of God.”

Apparently “Visitation of God” was once used in coroner’s verdicts for a death believed to have resulted from natural causes, particularly when no more specific cause could be determined.

Poor Robert Todd. Found dead in the road – and more than two centuries later, remembered because someone wrote perhaps the most dramatic version of “natural causes” imaginable.

Another little bit of history you didn’t ask for. You’re welcome.