Epidemics in US History
Sept-Oct, 1997, Newsletter - Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz
County
Source: Ancestors West, SSBCGS, Vol 20, No l, Fall 1993, South
Bend (IN) Area Genealogical Society
"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:
- 1657 - Boston, MA -- Measles
- 1687 - Boston, MA -- Measles
- 1690 - New York --Yellow Fever
- 1713 - Boston, MA -- Measles
- 1729 - Boston, MA -- Measles
- 1732-3 - Worldwide -- Influenza
- 1738 - South Carolina -- Smallpox
- 1739-40 - Boston, MA -- Measles
- 1747 - CT, NY, PA, SC -- Measles
- 1759 - North America [areas inhabited predominately by white people] --Measles
- 1761 - North America and West Indies -- Influenza
- 1772 - North America -- Measles
- 1775 - North America [especially hard in Northeast] epidemic -- Unknown
- 1775-6 - Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics] -- Influenza
- 1783 - Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"] -- Bilious Disorder
- 1784 - New Bern, NC (Craven County) -- Yellow Fever
- 1788 - Philadelphia, PA and New York -- Measles
- 1793 - Vermont [a "putrid" fever] and -- Influenza
- 1793 - Virginia [killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks] -- Influenza
- 1793 - Philadelphia, PA [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
- 1798 - New Bern, NC (Craven County) -- 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 - New York City and other major cities -- Cholera
- 1837 - Philadelphia, PA -- Typhus
- 1841 - Nationwide [especially severe in the south] -- Yellow Fever
- 1847 - New Orleans, LA -- 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, PA New York, Boston, New Orleans -- Smallpox
- 1865-73 - Baltimore, MD Memphis, TN Washington DC -- Cholera
- 1916-1955 - Nationwide - Polio
A series of recurring epidemics and pandemics
- 1873-5 - North America and Europe -- Influenza
- 1878 - New Orleans, LA [last great epidemic] -- Yellow Fever
- 1885 - Plymouth, PA -- Typhoid 1886 - Jacksonville, FL -- Yellow Fever
- 1918-1920 - Global Influenza AKA Spanish Flu pandemic
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
- 2019-present - COVID-19 global pandemic
Finally, these specific instances of Cholera were mentioned:
- 1833 Columbus, OH 1834 New York City
- 1849 New York
- 1851 Coles County., Illinois, The Great Plains, and Missouri
Updated by AB July 8 2022
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