North Carolina State Wide - Miscellaneous - Epidemics in America 1628-1918 ----¤¤¤¤---- 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: Years Area Epidemic 1628-1631 New England Small Pox 1638 New England Small Pox & Spotted Fever 1648-1649 Massachusetts Bay Colony Small Pox 1657-1658 Boston Measles 1659 Massachusetts Bay Colony Throat Distemper 1677-1678 Charlestown & Boston Small Pox 1679-1680 Virginia Small Pox 1687 Boston Measles 1689-1690 New England Small Pox 1690 New York Yellow Fever 1693 Boston, MA Yellow Fever 1696 Jamestown, VA Small Pox 1699 Charleston & Philadelphia Yellow Fever Mar 1699 South Carolina Small Pox 1702 New York Yellow Fever 1702-1703 Boston, MA Small Pox 1706 Charleston Yellow Fever 1711-1712 South Carolina Small Pox 1713 Boston Measles 1715-1725 Most of the Colonies Small Pox 1721 Boston, MA Small Pox 1723-1730 Boston, NY, Philadelphia Small Pox 1729 Boston Measles 1732 Charleston & New York Yellow Fever 1732-3 Worldwide Influenza 1734 Virginia Yellow Fever 1735-1740 New England Small Pox, Scarlet Fever & Diphtheria 1738 South Carolina Smallpox 1739-40 Boston Measles 1741 Virginia Yellow Fever 1747 CT, NY, PA, SC Measles 1752 Boston, MA Small Pox 1759 N. Amer Measles 1760-1761 CT, RI, MA, Charleston Small Pox 1761 N. Amer and West Indies Influenza 1762 Philadelphia Yellow Fever 1763 Philadelphia Throat Distemper 1764 Boston, MA Small Pox 1769 New York Throat Distemper 1772 N. America Measles 1772-1774 New England Small Pox 1775 N. Amer [especially NE] Epidemic Unknown 1775-6 Worldwide [severe epidemics] Influenza 1776 Boston, MA Small Pox 1778 Boston, MA Small Pox 1783 Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"] Bilious Disorder 1788 Philadelphia and New York Measles 1792 Boston, MA Small Pox 1793 Vermont [a "putrid" fever] Influenza 1793 VA [killed 500 in 5 co.'s in 4 wks] Influenza 1793 Philadelphia [severe epidemics] Yellow Fever 1793 Harrisburg, PA [many unexplained deaths] Cause Unknown 1793 Middletown, PA [many mysterious deaths] Cause Unknown 1794 Philadelphia, PA Yellow Fever 1796-7 Philadelphia, PA Yellow Fever 1798 Philadelphia, PA [severe] 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 1833 Columbus, OH Cholera 1834 New York City Cholera 1837 Philadelphia Typhus 1841 Nationwide [severe in the south] Yellow Fever 1847 New Orleans Yellow Fever 1847-8 Worldwide Influenza 1848-9 North America Cholera 1849 New York Cholera 1850 Nationwide Yellow Fever 1850-1 North America Influenza 1851 Coles Co., IL, The Great Plains, and Missouri Cholera 1852 Nationwide [New Orleans-8,000 died in summer] Yellow Fever 1855 Nationwide [many parts] Yellow Fever 1857-9 Worldwide [devasating 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 N. 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] more people were hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps of Influenza. Sept-Oct, 1997, Newsletter - Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County Source: Ancestors West, SSBCGS, Vol 20, No l, Fall 1993, South Bend (IN) Area Genealogical Society via Julie Burnett, Sue in Arizona and Judy Nordgren SMCAGS, Alison Franks Archivist, Rawson Family Association __________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Marianne Nichols Ordway ___________________________________________________________________