Epidemics

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. 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 US are listed below.

(The original compiler of this list is not known)

• 1657—Boston—Measles
• 1687—Boston—Measles
• 1690—New York—Yellow Fever
• 1713—Boston—Measles
• 1729—Boston—Measles
• 1732-23—worldwide—Influenza
• 1738—South Carolina—Smallpox
• 1739-40—Boston—Measles
• 1747—Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina
• 1759—North America—Measles (where whites lived)
• 1761—North America,West Indies—Influenza
• 1772—North America—Measles
• 1775—North America (esp. New England)—Epidemic-(unknown)
• 1775-56—worldwide—Influenza-(one of the worst flu epidemics)
• 1783—Dover, Delaware—"extremely fatal" bilious disorder
• 1788—Philadelphia, New York—Measles
• 1793—Vermont—Influenza and "putrid fever"
• 1793—Virginia—Influenza-(500 people/5 counties/4 weeks)
• 1793—Philadelphia—Yellow fever-(one of the worst)
• 1793—Pennsylvania(Harrisburg & Middletown)-many unexplained deaths
• 1794—Philadephia—Yellow fever
• 1796-67—Phildelphia—Yellow fever
• 1798—Philadelphia—Yellow fever-(one of worst)
• 1803—New York-Yellow fever
• 1820-23—Nationwide(started on Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania & spread)—"fever"
• 1831-32—Nationwide—Asiatic Cholera-(brought by English immigrants)
• 1832—New York & other major cities—Cholera
• 1837—Philadelphia—Typhus
• 1841—Nationwide—Yellow fever-(esp. severe in South)
• 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—Yellow fever (New Orleans-8,000 died in summer)
• 1855—Nationwide—Yellow fever
• 1857-59—Worldwide—Influenza (one of greatest epidemics)
• 1860-61—Pennsylvania—Smallpox
• 1865-73—Philadelphia, New Orleans, NY, Boston,Washington, DC,Baltimore, & Memphis—Series of recurring epidemics: smallpox, cholera, typhus, typhoid, scarlet and yellow fevers
• 1873-35—North America & Europe—Influenza
• 1878—New Orleans—Yellow fever-(last great epidemic of that disease)
• 1885—Plymouth, Pennsylvania—Typhoid
• 1886—Jacksonville, Florida—Yellow fever
• 1918 Worldwide Influenza (high-point year) More people were hospitalized in World War I from influenza than from wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps.
• Finally, these specific cases of cholera were mentioned:

  1833 Columbus, OH
  1834 New York City
  1849 New York
  1851 Coles Co. IL
  1851 The Great Plains
  1851 Missouri