Epidemics are of particular interest to genealogists because they often explain why ancestors died in
great numbers in a given area or region, or left an area for no apparent reason. Epidemics have
occurred worldwide throughout human history. When and where epidemics have occurred, entire
towns and families were often wiped out. This resulted in large numbers of people disappearing from
most conventional records; tax rolls, deeds, voting records, censuses, etc. This initially leaves the
researcher with a brick wall. In many cases, an epidemic struck the locality where the ancestor lived,
killing them and possibility others in the family. There is the possibility that one or two family members
died from a local epidemic and the other surviving relatives moved away.
The United States has faced its share of epidemics throughout our history. Two of the most severe
were the yellow fever outbreak that swept through the South in 1841 and the infamous 1918 Spanish
flu outbreak which quickly spread throughout the world, eventually hitting the United States. This latter
epidemic claimed the lives of an estimated 25 to 40 million people. In many cases, due to the fear of
spreading disease, the remains were burned quickly with little concern for documenting names of the
deceased.
The most common epidemics involved the following diseases: yellow fever, measles, influenza,
cholera, smallpox, typhus, scarlet fever and typhoid were the great epidemics affecting different
regions within the United States and the European continent at different times from the 1600s to the
early 20th century. Major widespread epidemics have been done away with over the last 90 years due
to improved medical care and vaccinations.
Some epidemics were fairly localized such as in South Carolina in 1738 where a smallpox epidemic
occurred. In 1788 in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in New York City, a major outbreak of
measles killed thousands. Over 500 people died of influenza in one month in a small region of Virginia
in 1793. During 1837, the city of Philadelphia had an outbreak of typhus. Yellow fever was one of the worst epidemics for most regions. The fatal disease spread all across the United States in 1852 to 1853 and killed 8,000 citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana alone during the summer of 1853. In just three years, yellow fever appeared again in most areas of the United States.
In 1857 to 1859, one of the worst influenza epidemics affected people all across the world. It happened again in 1873 to 1875 with the death of thousands from influenza around the globe. The last great influenza epidemic worldwide was in 1917 to 1919 during World War One. The disease sickened the normally healthy young adults and the very elderly, killing them within days. It was known as Spanish Flu.
When an epidemic occurred, it could cause the mortality rate to reach as high as sixty percent of those who contracted a disease. When people died faster than graves could be dug, there was little time to make note of the event, even in a family Bible. It was generally recent immigrants, children, laborers, and the poor who were most affected from the epidemics. Wealthy residents could escape the plague by leaving the city or region they lived in until conditions improved. Our companion study guide by the same title Epidemics will provide a comprehensive listing of the epidemics that have occurred within the continental United States.
For more information on this topic feel free to consult the following resources. I also have a more detailed study guide on this topic that is available free upon request.