Awhile ago there was a posting about why a man would have several marriages to different women in a short period of time. While I agree with the basics of bad luck, and most definitely the likely hood of bigamy - the thought of epidemics was passed around. This information came to me from another list and I did get some answers to my questions - hope it helps someone else. Kelly Jewett 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 > 1732-33 Worldwide: Influenza > 1738 South Carolina: Smallpox > 1739-40 Boston: Measles > 1747 Conn, NY, PA & SC: Measles > 1759 North America (areas inhabited by white people): Measles > 1761 North America & West Indies: Influenza > 1772 North America (especially hard in New England): Epidemic >(Unknown) > 1775-76 Worldwide: Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics) > 1788 Philadelphia & NY: Measles > 1793 Vermont: Influenza and a "putrid fever" > 1793 Virginia: Influenza (killed 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, NY, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis & >Washington > DC: 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 from influenza 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 > 1851 The Great Plains > 1851 Missouri > > Kelly Jewett Lucas Co., IA County Coordinator Plymouth Co., IA County Coordinator King William Co., VA County Coordinator