• If you lost an ancestor you may wish to check on these possible causes.

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. America                               Measles: areas inhabited by

                                                                   white people

1761            N. America and West Indies      Influenza

1772            N. America                               Measles

1775            N. America                               Unknown epidemic: especially

                                                                   hard in NE

1775-6         Worldwide                               Influenza: one of the worst 

                                                                   epidemics

1783            Dover, DE                                "Extremely fatal" bilious disorder

1788            Philadelphia and New York       Measles

1793            Vermont                                   A "putrid" fever and Influenza

1793            Virginia                                     Influenza: killed 500 in 5 

                                                                   counties in 4  weeks

1793            PhiladelphiaYellow                    Fever: over 4,000 deaths

1793            Harrisburg, PA                         Many unexplained deaths

1793            Middletown, PA                       Many unexplained deaths

1794            Philadelphia, PA                       Yellow Fever

1796-7         Philadelphia, PA                       Yellow Fever

1798            Philadelphia, PA                       Yellow Fever: one of the worst

1803            New York                                 Yellow Fever

1820-3         Nationwide                               "Fever" - started Schuylkill

                                                                   River and spread

 

1822            New York and New Orleans      Yellow Fever

1831-2         Nationwide                               Asiatic Cholera: brought by

                                                                   English emigrants

1832            NY City and other major cities   Cholera

1832            New Orleans                             Asiatic Cholera: over 1,000 

                                                                   deaths

1832            Ayrshire towns of Stevenston,

Dalry and Kilbride                     Cholera

1833            Columbus, OH                         Cholera

1834            New York City                         Cholera

1837            Philadelphia                              Typhus

1841            Nationwide                               Yellow Fever: especially

                                                                   severe in the south

1847            New Orleans                             Yellow Fever

1847-8         Worldwide                               Influenza

1848-9         North America                          Cholera

1849            New  York                                Cholera

1849-50       New Orleans                             Cholera: 3,000 deaths

1850            Nationwide                               Yellow Fever

1850            Alabama, New York                  Cholera

1850-1         North America                          Influenza

1851            Coles Co., IL, The Great

Plains, and Missouri                  Cholera

1852            Nationwide                               Yellow Fever

1853            New Orleans                             Yellow Fever: 8,000 die

1855            Nationwide                               Yellow Fever

1857-9         Worldwide                               Influenza: one of the greatest

                                                                    epidemics

1860-1         Pennsylvania                             Smallpox

1865-73       Philadelphia, NY, Boston,

New Orleans, Baltimore,

Memphis, Washington DC        Smallpox, a  series of recurring epidemics of Cholera, Typhus,

Typhoid, Scarlet Fever,  Yellow Fever

1873-5         N. America and Europe             Influenza

1878            New Orleans                             Yellow Fever: last great

                                                                   epidemic

1878            Memphis, TN                           Yellow Fever

1885            Chicago,  IL                             water-borne disease

1885            Plymouth, PA                           Typhoid

1886            Jacksonville, FL                        Yellow  Fever

1900            Galveston, TX                          cholera

1902                                                            Alaska measles

1905            New Orleans                             Yellow Fever: last US outbreak

1918            Worldwide                               [high point yr] Influenza: 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