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 death during an
epidemic or a move away from the affected area. Some of the
major epidemics in the United States are listed below.
|
Date |
Epidemic |
|
1657 |
Boston Measles. |
|
1687 |
Boston Measles. |
|
1690 |
New York Yellow Fever. |
|
1713 |
Boston Measles. |
|
1729 |
Boston Measles. |
|
1732-33 |
Worldwide Influenza. |
|
1738 |
SC Smallpox. |
|
1739-40 |
Boston Measles. |
|
1747 |
CT, NY, PA, SC Measles. |
|
1759 |
North. America (areas inhabited by white
people) Measles. |
|
1761 |
North America & West Indies Influenza. |
|
1772 |
North America Measles. |
|
1775 |
North America (especially hard in NE)
epidemic Unknown. |
|
1775-76 |
Worldwide (one of the worst epidemics) Influenza. |
|
1783 |
Dover, DE ("extremely fatal") Bilious
Disorder. |
|
1788 |
Philadelphia & New York Measles. |
|
1793 |
Vermont (a "putrid" fever) & 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. |
|
1796-97 |
Philadelphia, PA Yellow Fever. |
|
1798 |
Philadelphia, PA (one of the worst)
Yellow Fever. |
|
1803 |
New York Yellow Fever. |
|
1820-23 |
Nationwide (starts Schuylkill River &
spreads) "Fever". |
|
1831-32 |
Nationwide (brought by English emigrants) Asiatic Cholera 1832 NY
City & other major cities 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. |
|
1850 |
Nationwide Yellow Fever. |
|
1850-51 |
North America Influenza. |
|
1852 |
Nationwide (New Orleans-8,000 die in
summer) Yellow Fever. |
|
1855 |
Nationwide (many parts) Yellow Fever. |
|
1857-59 |
Worldwide (one of the greatest
epidemics) Influenza. |
|
1860-61 |
PA 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. |
|
1873-75 |
North America & 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 were wounded. US
Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps. |
Finally, these specific instances of cholera
were mentioned.
