Originally from: >Donna Ristenbatt >der@redrose.net >http://www.ristenbatt.com/genealogy >To: Dutch-Colonies@rootsweb.com >Date: Sun, 22 Feb 1998 16:25:04 -500 >Subject: Possible Reasons for Disappearing Ancestors > > >> "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: Measles >> 1775 North America (especially hard in New England): Epidem(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 Thought you all would be interested in this information. If you know of epidemics that occurred in Fairfield County - let us know. Perhaps six children in your ancestors family died on yellow fever within a few weeks or in the same year. I am sure the 1833 Chlorea epidemic in Columbus must have effected the people in Fairfield County. Many of the canal workers died on Malaria here in Fairfield County. Carol Swinehart cshart@greenapple.com <smaller>List Adminstrator of Fairfield County, Ohio Mailing List</smaller>: OHFAIRFI-L@rootsweb.com <smaller>Stop by the Fairfield County,Ohio Webpage</smaller>: http://www.fairfieldgenealogy.org <smaller>or Fairfield County, Ohio GenWeb page: </smaller>http://www.greenapple.com/~ksmith/que.html My FCO Fam: Swinehart, Homrighouser, Betz, Foltz, Quickel, Anspach, Spohn <smaller>Library & Church Archive links</smaller>: http://www.greenapple.com/~cshart/liblinks