If you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors seemed to disappear during a certain period in history, it may have been due to an epidemic. Epidemics have always had a great influence on people and therefore the genealogists trying to trace them. Many cases of people disappearing from records can be attributed to people dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Some of the major epidemics in the United States are listed below – those that could have effected Weakley County in red. Submitted by MaryCarol
1657 Boston: Measles 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 Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania & South Carolina: Measles 1759 North America (areas inhabited by white people): Measles 1761-61 North America & West Indies: Influenza 1772 North America: Measles 1775 North America (especially hard in New England): Epidemic (unknown) 1775-76 Worldwide: Influenza 1781-82 Worldwide: Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics) 1788 Philadelphia & New York: Measles 1793 Vermont: Influenza and a “putrid fever” 1793 Virginia: Influenza (kills 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks) 1793 Philadelphia: Yellow fever (one of worst) 1783 Delaware (Dover): “extremely fatal” bilious disorder 1793 Pennsylvania (Harrisburg & Middletown): many unexplained deaths 1794 Philadelphia: Yellow fever 1796-97 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever 1798 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst) 1803 New York: Yellow Fever 1820-23 Nationwide: “fever” (starts on Schuylkill River, PA & spreads 1831-32 Nationwide: Asiatic Cholera (brought by English emigrants) 1832 New York & other major cities: Cholera 1837 Philadelphia: Typhus 1841 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (especially 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 die in summer) 1855 Nationwide (many parts): Yellow Fever 1857-59 Worldwide: Influenza (one of disease’s greatest epidemics) 1860-61 Pennsylvania: Smallpox 1865-73 Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, & Washington D.C.: a series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever 1873-75 North America & Europe: Influenza 1878 New Orleans: Yellow Fever (last great epidemic of disease) 1885 Plymouth, PA: Typhoid 1886: Jacksonville, Fl: Yellow Fever 1918 Worldwide: Influenza (high point year) More people hospitalized in World War I more died from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps –with 80 percent death rate in some camps —————- Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned:
1833 Columbus, Ohio 1834 New York City 1849 New York 1851 Coles Co., Illinois 1851 The Great Plains 1851 Missouri
Other epidemics in the US – mostly in “big” east coast cities:
1813: “spotted fever” which we know as cerebral spinal meningitis–6,000 died.
1813 to ?: tuberculosis also called “consumption” was on the rise.
1842-3: erysipelas [strep infection of skin and mucous membranes
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