| Nationwide 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 - 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:" YEAR LOCATION EPIDEMIC 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 North America [areas inhabited by white people] Measles 1761 N. Amer and West Indies Influenza 1772 North America Measles 1775 North America [especially hard in NE] Unknown epidemic 1775-6 Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics] Influenza 1783 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 Yellow Fever [one of the worst] 1803 New York Yellow Fever 1813 Tennessee, Maury County Black Tongue epidemic killed several 1820-3 Nationwide 1831-2 Nationwide [brought by English emigrants] Asiatic Cholera 1832 NY City and other major cities Cholera 1833 Columbus, OH Cholera 1834 New York City Cholera 1834 Tennessee, Maury County, occurred southeast of Columbia Cholera 1837 Philadelphia Typhus 1840 Tennessee, Stewart County, Dover Hard times in the area attributed to the national depression of 1837. Malaria, cholera, smallpox frequent epidemics. 1841 Nationwide [especially severe in the south] Yellow Fever 1844 February and March Tennessee Maury County, killed several in Columbia Black Tongue epidemic 1847 New Orleans Yellow Fever 1847-8 Worldwide Influenza 1848-9 North America Cholera 1848 July Decatur County, Tennessee, area of Bear Creek Baptist Church Smallpox 1849 New York Cholera 1850 Nationwide Yellow Fever 1850 July 17 Gainesboro, TN Cholera 1850-1 North America Influenza 1851 Coles Co., IL, The Great Plains, and Missouri Cholera 1852 Nationwide [New Orleans-8,000 die in summer] Yellow Fever 1854 Tennessee, Giles County unknown epidemic 1855 Nationwide [many parts] Yellow Fever 1857-9 Worldwide [one of the greatest epidemics] Influenza 1860-1 Pennsylvania Smallpox 1862 Tennessee, Shelby County, Memphis Yellow-fever 1862 Illinois in the vicinity of Metropolis measles and pneumonia 1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans Smallpox 1865-73 Baltimore, Memphis,Washington DC Cholera 1866 United States Cholera 1865-73 Baltimore, Memphis,Washington DC A series of recurring epidemics of Typhus, Typhoid , Scarlet Fever,Yellow Fever 1873-5 North America and Europe Influenza 1873 Tennessee, Rutherford County Murfreesboro cholera 1878 Tennessee, Shelby County, Memphis yellow fever more than 5,000 fatalities 25,000 persons in crazed flight, and 5,000 more sheltered in concentration camps 1878 New Orleans [last great epidemic] Yellow Fever 1878 Tennessee, Hamilton County,Chattanooga Yellow Fever 1885 Plymouth, PA Typhoid 1886 Jacksonville, FL Yellow Fever 1918 Worldwide[high point yr] Influenza more people were hospitalized in WWI from Influenza epidemic than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps 1924 Tennessee, Stewart County, Dover Typhoid fever epidemic The great Cholera epidemic was spread by immigrants from Europe. The major years were 1832, 1849, 1866, and 1873. By 1890, the disease was practically controlled. --Malaria was also of epidemic proportions in the late 1800's. The hottest summer on record was 1886, and later 1887. Mosquitoes were out of control in the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, as well as tributaries. This went on for years. --TB was also of epidemic proportions at the time. Children ages 5-15 rarely died from the "adult" epidemics, as this is a period of "Natural Immunity." European epidemics introduced into the southeastern United States in 1540 by the Desoto expedition are estimated to have killed at least 75% of the original native population. How much the Cherokee suffered from this disaster in unknown, but their population in 1674 was about 50,000. A series of smallpox epidemics (1729, 1738, and 1753) cut this in half, and it remained fairly stable at about 25,000 until their removal to Oklahoma during the 1830s. |