Information provided by:  Diana Nelson and other sources

Epidemics in the U.S.
1628-2004


 

"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:"
The agony of entire families besieged with a dreaded disease,
and the benevolence of some neighbors in aid.


 

Years Area Epidemic Notes
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 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 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 Small Pox  
1723-1730 Boston, New York, Philadelphia Small Pox  
1729 Boston Measles  
1732 Charleston, New York Yellow Fever  
1732-1733 Worldwide Influenza  
1735-1740 New England Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria  
1734 Virginia Yellow Fever  
1738 South Carolina Small Pox  
1739-1740 Boston Measles  
1741 Virginia Yellow Fever  
1747 CT, NY, PA, SC Measles  
1752 Boston Small Pox  
1759 North America Measles Areas inhabited by white people
1760-1761 CT, RI, MA, Charleston Small Pox  
1761 North America, West Indies Influenza  
1762 Philadelphia Yellow Fever  
1763 Philadelphia Throat Distemper  
1764 Boston Small Pox  
1769 New York Throat Distemper  
1772 North America Measles  
1772-1774 New England Small Pox  
1775 North America Epidemic Unknown Especially hard in NE
1775-1776 Worldwide Influenza One of the worst epidemics
1776 Boston Small Pox  
1778 Boston Small Pox  
1783 Dover DE Bilious Disorder Extremely Fatal
1788 Philadelphia, New York Measles  
1792 Boston Small Pox  
1793 VT "Putrid" Fever, Influenza  
1793 VA Influenza Killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks
1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever More than 4,000 died
1793 Harrisburg PA Unknown Many unexplained deaths
1793 Middletown PA Unknown Many unexplained deaths
1794 Philadelphia Yellow Fever  
1796-1797 Philadelphia Yellow Fever  
1798 Philadelphia Yellow Fever One of the worst
1803 New York Yellow Fever  
1811-1812 Reading County and other parts of VT Petechial or Spotted Fever Many deaths among children
1820-1823 Nationwide "Fever" Start at Schuylkill River and spreads
1831-1832 Nationwide Asiatic Cholera Brought by English emigrants
1832 New York City, New Orleans Cholera NYC July-Aug, Over 3,000 people died; NO Oct, 4,340 died
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  
1847-1848 Worldwide Influenza  
1848-1849 North America Cholera New York City, more than 5,000 deaths
1849 New York Cholera  
1849-1850 New Orleans Cholera 3,000 deaths
1850-1851 North America Influenza  
1851 Coles County IL, The Great Plains, MO Cholera  
1852 Nationwide Yellow Fever New Orleans - 8,000 die in summer
1853 New Orleans Yellow Fever Killed 7,790
1855 Nationwide Yellow Fever  
1857-1859 Worldwide Influenza One of the greatest epidemics
1860-1861 PA Small Pox  
1865-1873 Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC Small Pox, a series of recurring epidemics of Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever, Yellow Fever 1867 New Orleans, 3,093 perished
1873-1875 North America, Europe Influenza  
1878 Southern States Yellow Fever Over 13,000 people died in lower Mississippi Valley
1885 Plymouth PA Typhoid  
1886 Jacksonville FL Yellow Fever  
1900 Galveston TX Cholera  
1902 Alaska Measles  
1905 New Orleans Yellow Fever Last U.S. outbreak
1916 Nationwide Polio, Infantile Paralysis Over 7,000 deaths and 27,363 cases
1918 Nationwide Spanish Influenza More people hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic than wounds.  US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps.  Killed over 500,000.
1952 Nationwide Polio 3,300 killed, 57,628 cases reported
1981-2004 Nationwide AIDS 944,306 estimated U.S. cases; 529,113 estimated deaths