Hello listers, Thought this might be useful information to share. I can't take credit for anything other than *spreading the word*, so to speak. Happy hunting, Barb Terhune -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ROSZELL-L] Fwd: [OHROOTS-L] Epidemics Resent-Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:16:48 -0700 (PDT) Resent-From: ROSZELL-L@rootsweb.com Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 02:12:44 EDT From: AZREEN@aol.com To: ROSZELL-L@rootsweb.com --part1_8ad36a2d.24989a5c_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Received this from the OHROOTS-L mailing list. Thought you all should see it. Cec/Mom/Cecily G. (Roszell) Steele In a message dated 06/15/99 8:26:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, NLPhil1@aol.com writes: Hello everybody, I just received this from a cousin very much into Genealogy, and thought it worth sharing. 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 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 N. Amer. [areas inhabited by white people] Measles 1761 North America and West Indies Influenza 1772 North America Measles 1775 N. Amer. [especially hard in NE] epidemic Unknown 1775-6 Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics] Influenza 1783 Dover, 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 [one of the worst] 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 NY City and other major cities Cholera 1837 Philadelphia Typhus 1841 Nationwide [especially severe in the south] Yellow Fever 1847 New Orleans 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 greated epidemics] Influenza 1860-1 Pennsylvania Smallpox 1865-73 Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans {Smallpox} Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC {Cholera} [A series of recurring epidemics of:} {Typhus {Typhoid {Scarlet Fever {Yellow Fever 1873-5 North America and Europe Influenza 1878 New Orleans [last great epidemic] Yellow Fever 1885 Plymouth, PA Typhoid 1886 Jacksonville, FL Yellow Fever 1918 Worldwide [high point yr.] {Influenza more people were hospitalized in WW1 from this epidemic than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned: 1833 Columbus, OH 1834 New York City 1849 New York 1851 Coles Co., IL, The Great Plains, and Missouri Nancy ==== OHROOTS Mailing List ==== This list is designed to provide a discussion forum for anyone who has an interest in Genealogy in the State of Ohio. This list will also be my way to contact you directly with any updates, changes, and other news about my page. To search this list go to http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl and enter OHROOTS for the list name. --part1_8ad36a2d.24989a5c_boundary--