GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L Archives

From: "Henry Hoffman (Commission for the Blind)" <>
Subject: Re: : Epidemics
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000 13:57:08 -0500

Some history on the 1918 flu epidemic. I had one ancestor that was a
victim to it, so I found these few lines that gives a quick view on it.
This is a direct quote from my FTM files:

"Mary was a victim of a flu epidemic that hit New York in 1918. The
Spanish flu of 1918 (which actually began in the United States, not
Spain) remains the most sweeping medical calamity of the century. The
disease attacked hundred of millions of people around the world, often
prostrating whole communities nearly at once. At least 30 million people
died, including 550,000 in the United States- more than the American
deaths in all of this century's wars combined."

wrote:

> Hi everyone:
>
> "In case you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors
> disappeared during a certain period in history, this might help.
> Epidemics have always had a great influence on people - and thus
> influencing, as well, the genealogists trying to trace them. Many
> cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying
> during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Some
> of the major epidemics in the United States are listed below:
>
> 1657 Boston Measles
> 1687 Boston Measles
> 1690 New York Yellow Fever
> 1713 Boston Measles
> 1729 Boston Measles
> 1732-3 Worldwide Influenza
> 1738 South Carolina Smallpox
> 1739-40 Boston Measles
> 1747 CT,NY,PA,SC Measles
> 1759 N. Amer [areas inhabited by white people] Measles
> 1761 N. Amer and West Indies Influenza
> 1772 N. America Measles
> 1775 N. Amer [especially hard in NE] epidemic Unknown
> 1775-6 Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics] Influenza
> 1783 Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"] Bilious
> Disorder
> 1788 Philadelphia and New York Measles
> 1793 Vermont [a "putrid" fever] and Influenza
> 1793 VA [killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks] Influenza
> 1793 Philadelphia [one of the worst epidemics] Yellow Fever
> 1793 Harrisburg, PA [many unexplained deaths] Unknown
> 1793 Middletown, PA [many mysterious deaths] Unknown
> 1794 Philadelphia, PA Yellow Fever
> 1796-7 Philadelphia, PA Yellow
> Fever
> 1798 Philadelphia, PA [one of the worst] Yellow
> Fever
> 1803 New York Yellow Fever
> 1820-3 Nationwide [starts-Schuylkill River and
> spreads] "Fever"
> 1831-2 Nationwide [brought by English emigrants] Asiatic
> Cholera
> 1832 NY City and other major cities Cholera
> 1837 Philadelphia Typhus
> 1841 Nationwide [especially severe in the south] Yellow
> Fever
> 1847 New Orleans Yellow Fever
> 1847-8 Worldwide Influenza
> 1848-9 North America Cholera
> 1850 Nationwide Yellow Fever
> 1850-1 North America Influenza
> 1852 Nationwide [New Orleans-8,000 die in summer] Yellow
> Fever
> 1855 Nationwide [many parts] Yellow Fever
> 1857-9 Worldwide [one of the greated epidemics] Influenza
> 1860-1 Pennsylvania Smallpox
> 1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans} {Smallpox
> Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC} {Cholera
> [A series of recurring epidemics of:} {Typhus
> {Typhoid
> {Scarlet Fever
> {Yellow Fever
> 1873-5 N. America and Europe Influenza
> 1878 New Orleans [last great epidemic] Yellow Fever
> 1885 Plymouth, PA Typhoid
> 1886 Jacksonville, FL Yellow Fever
> 1918 Worldwide[high point yr] more people were {Influenza
> hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic than
> wounds. US Army training camps became
> death camps, with 80% death rate in some
> camps
> Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned:
>
> 1833 Columbus, OH
> 1834 New York City
> 1849 New York
> 1851 Coles Co., IL, The Great Plains, and Missouri
>
> Sheila Burke
>

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• Re: : Epidemics by "Henry Hoffman (Commission for the Blind)" <>