what was a good age to die at in 1865?

I thought that it was interesting that based on today's data the U.S. ranks 48 in the world when it comes to life expectancy.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_...

I had a really hard time pinning down the answer to your question, but I would imagine it would depend on race, rural/urban, north/south. Based on what I saw on different websites it could have been low 40s, yet others had higher ages. Hopefully, somebody will provide the actual scientific answer on this one.

The average age of death was probably around 54, however that's the average. That generation of my own family died between 80 and 90. They were farmers. Genetic legacy and occupation had a lot to do with it. If you were a farmer, you worked hard and ate a lot of really healthy food. You could expect to live longer (barring accidents) than those in the cities who had more leisure time and didn't eat right.

40

There was, and still is, no good age to die. However, I believe the answer is the late 50's. However, if you AVERAGE in all deaths, the answer would be more like 40'ish due to high infant deaths.

typically the average varied much between those who lived in rural or small town areas vs cities but general if you survived the first year average was about 60 but with the right conditions anyone could live to about 100 during those times.

late 50s early 60s

This is tricky. Life expectancy at birth might have been about 50, but if you survived out of infancy you could expect to live into your sixties.