EPIDEMICS "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:" YEAR LOCATION EPIDEMIC 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 North America [areas inhabited by white people] Measles 1761 N. Amer and West Indies Influenza 1772 North America Measles 1775 North America [especially hard in NE]  Unknown epidemic  1775-6 Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics]  Influenza 1783 Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"] Bilious Disorder 1788 Philadelphia and New York Measles 1793 Vermont [a "putrid" fever] and Influenza  1793 VA [killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks] Influenza 1793 Philadelphia [one of the worst epidemics] Yellow Fever  1793 Harrisburg, PA [many unexplained deaths] Unknown 1793 Middletown, PA [many mysterious deaths] Unknown 1794 Philadelphia, PA  Yellow Fever 1796-7 Philadelphia, PA Yellow Fever 1798 Philadelphia, PA [one of the worst]  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 [especially 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 die in summer] Yellow Fever 1855 Nationwide [many parts] Yellow Fever 1857-9 Worldwide [one of the greated 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 North 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  Influenza  --ROOTS-L Digest,  Volume 98 : Issue 328 Today's Topics: [RICH WIGHT richmwight@home.com   Here's the definition and time frame for Cholera "An acute, infectious disease characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting,  and cramps. Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and food. Major epidemics struck the United States in the years 1832, 1849, and 1866.    Here are a few URL's for time frames and definitions   http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/disease.htm  http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/index3.htm http://www.uftree.com/UFT/HowTos/SettingOut/disease1.html  source: rootsweb.com