On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, William A Anikouchine wrote: > In searching the death records of the Matriky of Slovinky, Slovakia I > found several cholera epidemics. The first one I found was in the late > summer (August to September) of 1831. It seems to have started with the > advent of really hot weather and terminated with the first frosts of > fall. Exactly like the cholera epidemic I had found - it started very abruptly the first day of August, 1855. The last week of October that same year it had tapered off, and no cholera deaths in November. The location was Nizna nad Oravou (Orava Region), less than 20 km from the Polish border and a main highway which follows the Orava River. One response mentioned a cholera epidemic in Poland in 1854. Thanks Will, Margaret Sheremata > Another outbreak occurred in 1849 (the deaths in the first half of the > year were not entered in the Matrika, dare we guess why?) but cholera > deaths are noted from August to October, again ceasing abruptly--death of > the flies by frost, I suspect. > > The town of Poracs, about 8 KM west of Slovinky reported about 100 deaths > from typhus in the first 3 months of 1848. > > Yet another big cholera outbreak was during October to November of 1866, > rather late in the year, it seems cholera appeared again in 1873, but to > a lesser degree. > > Cause of death was noted in the Matriky starting in 1827 so there might > have been earlier outbreaks that went unrecorded except by a surge in the > number of deaths per unit time. Other disease might have been > responsible though. > > BUT the grand prize for grim reaping goes to that spectre, Morbilli. > Yes, that annoyance, measles. Back in the good ol', bad ol' days this > was the number one killer in Slovinky. Took only kids. What a guy. > Every year was pretty much like the other, taking care of the infant > mortality thing. > > A close runner-up was variola, known to us as smallpox. Much more > indiscriminate regarding age. Took anybody. A real Democrat. > > But, yes cholera was the horror. My father, a Cossack born in the > Caucasus in 1895, never swore except of one word: khaleria! It was still > a repugnance that many years after 1831. > > > >When I was going through he LDS burial records I hit upon a cholera > >epidemic beginning the month of August, 1855, Nizna, Orava Region of > >Slovakia. > > > >Instead of the usual two or three burials per month, and two days > >after a > >death, I was suddenly finding five or six deaths a day and > >same day burials. Persons were all ages, multiple deaths per > >household. > >Cause of death was "cholera" all the way down and for several pages. > > > >This definitely is significant in a family history. My great > >grandfather's ten year old brother was a victim. Searched the > >Internet and only found one cholera epidemic in England in 1854, and > >one > >other epidemic in Bukovina which covered period of a few years before > >1849. > > > >Has anyone else found anything like a cholera epidemic while working > >on > >any Eastern European genealogy? > > > Wouldn't it be an interesting study to map the course of the cholera > epidemics through Slovakian towns? > > Cheers, > > Will Anikouchine >