When I first started getting interested in genealogy and tracking down ancestors, I had no idea how difficult it would turn out to be. I had plenty of records on both sides of the family, as my grandparents seem to have been interested in tracking down their heritage as well. I knew I had ties to the Mayflower and those families had been researched and recorded by experts. How hard could it be to get my family tree done? Well, it has been years, no, decades, and I’m still at it. Your family history truly is “The Never Ending Story,” but it is easy to put the research down and pick it back up when you have the time, and it seems I have the time now. I often wondered why I would run into dead ends when looking through the older records. Names just seem to disappear leaving no trace whatsoever and recently I found, buried in my paperwork, a clue as to why it was that some names were disappearing. I wish to share this knowledge with all you genealogists out there, those that are pros and those just starting. The information was printed in “The Genealogical Inquirer” in 2002. Epidemics “Many cases of people disappearing from the public record can be traced to epidemics or moving away from the affected area. Some of the major epidemics in the United States were: * 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 * 1761 – North America – Influenza * 1772 – North America – Measles * 1775 – North America – (Especially hard in New England) epidemic – unknown * 1775/6 Worldwide (one of the worst) – Influenza * 1788 – Philadelphia and New York – Measles * 1793 – Vermont – a Putrid Fever and Influenza * 1793 – Virginia – Influenza * 1793 – 1798 Philadelphia (Yellow Fever) * 1831/32 – Nationwide (brought by English immigrants) – Asiatic Cholera * 1832 & 1834 New York City and other major cities – Cholera * 1833 – Columbus, OH – Cholera * 1837 – Philadelphia – Typhus * 1841 – Nationwide (Especially severe in the South) Yellow Fever * 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 (New Orleans – 8,000 die in summer) Influenza * 1857-59 – Worldwide (one of the largest epidemics) Influenza * 1860/61 – Pennsylvania – Smallpox * 1865/73 – Baltimore, MD; Memphis, TN; Washington, D.C. – Cholera (a series of recurring epidemics of Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever and Yellow Fever) * 1873/77 – North America and Europe – Influenza * 1878 – New Orleans – Yellow Fever * 1885 – Plymouth, PA – Typhoid * 1886 – Jacksonville, FL – Yellow Fever * 1918 – Worldwide (high point year) Influenza” |
Respectfully submitted, Sue Basile |
