HISTORICAL EPIDEMICS
Did you ever wonder why a large number of your ancestors 'disappeared' during a certain period in history? Perhaps it was an epidemic. Epidemics have always had a great effect on people, influencing not only historical events, but those of us trying to trace them. Many instances of our ancestors 'disappearing' can be attributed to an epidemic. Perhaps they didn't die, but moved away from the affected area. Below are some of the major historical epidemics our ancestors endured.
1687 | Boston | Measles
1690 | New York | Yellow Fever
1713 | Boston | Measles
1729 | Boston | Measles
1732-33 | Worldwide | Influenza
1738 | South Carolina | Smallpox
1739-40 | Boston | Measles
1747 | Conn, N.Y., Penn., S.C. | Measles
1759 | N. America [areas inhabited by white people] | Measles
1761 | N. Amererica and West Indies | Influenza
1772 | N. America | Measles
1775 | N. America [especially hard in the N.E.] | Epidemic Unknown
1775-76 | Worldwide | [one of the worst epidemics] Influenza
1783 | Dover, Delaware | [extremely fatal] Bilious Disorder
1788 | Philadelphia and New York | Measles
1793 | Vermont | [a "putrid" fever] and Influenza
1793 | Virginia [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 unexplained deaths] | Unknown
1794 | Philadelphia, PA | Yellow Fever
1796-97 | Philadelphia, PA | Yellow Fever
1798 | Philadelphia, PA [one of the worst epidemics] | Yellow Fever
1803 | New York | Yellow Fever
1820-23 | Nationwide [starts at Schuylkill River and spreads] | "Fever"
1831-32 | Nationwide [brought by English emigrants] | Asiatic Cholera
1832 | New York City and other major cities | Cholera
1833 | Columbus, OH | Cholera
1834 | New York City | Cholera
1837 | Philadelphia | Typhus
1841 | Nationwide [especially severe in the south] | Yellow Fever
1847 | New Orleans | Yellow Fever
1847-48 | Worldwide | Influenza
1848-49 | North America | Cholera
1849 | New York | Cholera
1850 | Nationwide | Yellow Fever
1850-51 | North America | Influenza
1851 | Coles Co., Illinois, The Great Plains, and Missouri | Cholera
1852 | Nationwide [New Orleans - 8,000 die in one summer] | Yellow Fever
1855 | Nationwide [many parts] | Yellow Fever
1857-59 | Worldwide [one of the greatest epidemics] | Influenza
1860-61 | Pennsylvania | Smallpox
1865-73 | Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans | Smallpox
""""""""""" | Baltimore, Memphis, Washington D.C. | Cholera
""""""""""" | A series of recurring epidemics of: Typhus - Typhoid - Scarlet Fever - Yellow Fever
1873-75 | N. America and Europe | Influenza
1878 | New Orleans [last great epidemic] | Yellow Fever
1885 | Plymouth, PA | Typhoid
1886 | Jacksonville, FL | Yellow Fever
1918 | Worldwide, more people were hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic than from wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps | Influenza
My notes: More people died from this epidemic of Influenza alone than died in all the wars this century. Death was quick, with people feeling fine in the morning and dead by night. Lungs filling with blood was a major cause of death - they simply drowned. Similar to "The Black Death (the plague)", our people were dying at such a rate as to be picked up "en mass" and left on sidewalks in their coffins. Undertakers couldn't make them fast enough. Baseball games were cancelled, city events were postponed. Noone wanted to "catch it" by going out in public.
This epideic is said to have began with a few people in a small town in Kansas. They had a case of the flu, but recovered. Shortly thereafter, servicemen were shipped overseas to fight in the war - WWI. From there, the Europeans "caught it" and it mutated. The "mutated" germ was carried home by our Vets and spread from there, first to the large cities, then to the small towns and rural areas. In my opinion, this was the "last great epidemic."
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