WVLINCOL-L Archives

From: Jane Hoholski <>
Subject: [WVLINCOL-L] Epidemics
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 23:16:53 -0400

> QUOTE:
>
> I received this on another list - very informative! But always in the
> case of someone else's research - you need to check out these dates to
> your own satisfaction.
>
> 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 their 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. America [areas inhabited by white people] Measles
> 1761 North America and West Indies Influenza
> 1772 North America Measles
> 1775 N. America [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 greatest epidemics] Influenza
> 1860-1 Pennsylvania Smallpox
> 1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans} {Smallpox
> Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC} Cholera and a series of recurring
> epidemics of: Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever, Yellow Fever
> 1873-5 North America and Europe Influenza
> 1878 New Orleans [last great epidemic] Yellow Fever
> 1885 Plymouth, PA Typhoid
> 1886 Jacksonville, FL Yellow Fever
> 1918 (high point year) Influenza Worldwide more people were
> 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
>

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• [WVLINCOL-L] Epidemics by Jane Hoholski <>