This is good information to know. I haven't had time to check it out. However, in my Whitney line, Lieut. Benjamin Whitney (Pierce 523) (Joseph 4, Joseph 3, Jonathan 2, John 1) is listed with 17 children. Numbers 12-17 all died between 25 Aug & 3 Sep 1778 (their ages ranged from 1-15 years). Is there any documentation that these deaths might have been due to an epidemic? On Mon, 13 Nov 2000, Sheila A. Stratton-Peel wrote: > Just thought that I would spread these sites around. It may make it easier > to understand why so many people passed over at the same time in our charts. > > Genealogy Tip of the Day > Monday November 13, 2000 > > Epidemics > > Major epidemics have occurred throughout history and killed large numbers of > people. Perhaps in the course of your research you have noted that a number > of your ancestors or family members died at the same time but you didn't > know why. One reason may have been the outbreak of some epidemic. One Web > site at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7241/epidemic.html presents > a table of epidemics in the U.S. from 1628-1918. Another great site is > located at http://www.botany.duke.edu/microbe/chrono.htm and includes > textual descriptions concerning all major epidemics worldwide from 480 B.C. > to 1957-58. > > Hope someone can use this info. > Sheila > > Karl Schwerin SnailMail: Dept. of Anthropology Univ. of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131 e-mail: schwerin@unm.edu Cultural anthropology...is valuable because it is constantly rediscovering the normal. Edward Sapir (1949:151)