Epidemics
Epidemics are of particular interest to genealogists because they may explain why ancestors died in great numbers or left an area for no apparent reason. The following table lists a number of epidemics by year, and includes location and the disease involved.
| Year(s) | Location | Disease | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1332 | India | Bubonic Plague | Original location of this pandemic. |
| 1347-1350 | Europe | Bubonic Plague | Nearly 1/3 the population of Europe succumbed in the first two years. |
| 1349 | Norway Scotland Prussia Iceland Italy |
Bubonic Plague | |
| 1351 | Russia | Bubonic Plague | |
| 1485 | England | The Sweat | Also called The Swat, New Acquaintance, Stoupe, or "Knave know thy master". |
| 1508 | England | The Sweat | A fast acting disease, "they were dancing in court at nine and dead at eleven." |
| 1517 | England | The Sweat | |
| 1518-1520 | Mexico:Aztec Empire | Smallpox | Brought to South America by the Spanish |
| 1527-1530 | Peru:Inca Empire | Smallpox | |
| 1539-1540 | England | Bubonic Plague | |
| 1550-1566 | England | Bubonic Plague | The population of England may have fallen as much as 6% between 1550 and 1560 due, primarily, to the plague. |
| 1551 | England | The Sweat | |
| 1577 | England:Oxford | Goal fever | |
| 1581 | England:York | Goal fever | |
| 1590 | England:Lincoln | Goal fever | |
| 1615 | England | Unknown burning fever | |
| 1616 | USA:New England | Smallpox | Mostly affects Native Americans |
| 1634-1635 | England | Smallpox | |
| 1636 | England:Hereford | Goal fever | |
| 1638 | England | Unidentified fever | |
| 1647 | USA:Massachusetts | Yellow Fever | |
| 1649 | USA:New England USA:Massachusetts:Boston |
Smallpox | Boston especially hard hit. |
| 1657 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1657 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1660-1661 | England | Unidentified fever | |
| 1666 | England:London | Bubonic Plague | Last great outbreak. |
| 1666 | USA:New England | Smallpox | |
| 1678 | USA:New England | Smallpox | |
| 1687 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1690 | USA:New York:New York City | Yellow Fever | |
| 1711 | Europe especially Northern Europe |
Plague | |
| 1713 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1729 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1732-1733 | Worldwide | Influenza | |
| 1736 | USA:Massachusetts:Essex Co. | Throat Distemper | 900 children died within 6 months in Essex County alone. Probably diphtheria. |
| 1738 | USA:South Carolina | Smallpox | |
| 1739-1740 | USA:Massachusetts:Boston | Measles | |
| 1747 | USA:Connecticut USA:New York USA:Pennsylvania USA:South Carolina |
Measles | |
| 1759 | North America | Measles | |
| 1761 | North America West Indies |
Influenza | |
| 1770-1772 | Balkans | Plague | |
| 1772 | North America | Measles | |
| 1775 | North America | Unknown | Especially in New England |
| 1775-1776 | Worldwide | Influenza | |
| 1783 | USA:Delaware:Dover | Bilious Fever | |
| 1788 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia USA:New York:New York City |
Measles | |
| 1793 | USA:Pennsylvania:Harrisburg | Unknown | |
| 1793 | USA:Pennsylvania:Middletown | Unknown | |
| 1793 | USA:Vermont | Influenza | Killed 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks |
| 1793 | USA:Virginia | Influenza | |
| 1793-1794 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia | Yellow Fever | Over 4,000 dead |
| 1796-1797 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia | Yellow Fever | |
| 1798 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia | Yellow Fever | |
| 1803 | USA:New York:New York City | Yellow Fever | |
| 1820-1823 | USA | Fever | Starts on the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania and spreads across the nation |
| 1820-1823 | USA | Fever | |
| 1831-1832 | USA | Asiatic Cholera | Brought by English immigrants |
| 1832 | Ayrshire towns of Stevenston, Dalry, and Kilbride |
Cholera | |
| 1832 | USA:New York:New York City | Cholera | More than 3,000 dead |
| 1832 | USA;Louisiana:New Orleans | Cholera | 4,340 dead |
| 1832-1833 | USA:Missouri:St. Louis | Cholera | |
| 1833 | USA:Ohio:Columbus | Cholera | |
| 1834 | USA:New York:New York City | Cholera | |
| 1835 | USA:Missouri:St. Louis | Cholera | |
| 1837 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia | Typhus | |
| 1841 | USA | Yellow Fever | |
| 1846-1850 | Ireland | Potato Famine | A fungus called "the Blight" infected the potato crop |
| 1847 | USA:Louisiana:New Orleans | Yellow Fever | |
| 1847-1848 | Worldwide | Influenza | |
| 1848-1849 | North America | Cholera | |
| 1848-1849 | USA:New York:New York City | Cholera | More than 5,000 dead |
| 1850 | USA | Yellow Fever | |
| 1850-1851 | North America | Influenza | |
| 1851 | USA:Great Plains | Cholera | |
| 1851 | USA:Illinois:Coles County | Cholera | |
| 1851 | USA:Missouri | Cholera | |
| 1852 | USA;Louisiana:New Orleans | Yellow Fever | 8,000 dead |
| 1854 | USA:Texas:Corpus Christi | Yellow Fever | |
| 1855 | USA | Yellow Fever | |
| 1857-1859 | Worldwide | Influenza | |
| 1860-1861 | USA:Pennsylvania | Smallpox | |
| 1862-1863 | USA:Southern California | Smallpox | Many Native Americans and Mexicans died |
| 1865-1873 | USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia USA:New York USA:Massachusetts:Boston USA:Louisiana:New Orleans |
Smallpox | |
| 1866 | USA:Maryland:Baltimore USA:Tennessee:Memphis USA:Washington DC |
Cholera | |
| 1867 | USA:Texas:Indianola, Galveston, and Corpus Christi | Yellow Fever | |
| 1867 | USA;Louisiana:New Orleans | Yellow Fever | 3,093 dead |
| 1873 | USA:Alabama | Cholera | Moved along the railroad lines from Huntsville to Birmingham and Montgomery as these cities industrialized |
| 1873-1875 | North America and Europe | Influenza | |
| 1878 | USA:Northern New Jersey, possibly elsewhere | Diphtheria | Occurred in the Spring |
| 1878 | USA:Southern states | Yellow Fever | Over 13,000 dead in lower Missisippi Valley |
| 1883 | USA:Alabama | Yellow Fever | |
| 1885 | USA:Pennsylvania:Plymouth | Typhoid | |
| 1886 | USA:Florida:Jacksonville | Yellow Fever | |
| 1895 | USA:Washington DC | Malaria | |
| 1898 | Cuba | Yellow Fever | Spanish-American War; the disease took over 5,000 soldiers in July and August, only 968 died in combat |
| 1900 | USA:Texas:Galveston | Cholera | |
| 1905 | New Orleans LA |
Yellow Fever | |
| 1916 | USA | Polio | Over 7,000 deaths, 27,363 reported cases, America's worst polio epidemic |
| 1918 | USA | Spanish Influenza | Over 500,000 dead, worst single U.S. epidemic |
| 1918-1919 | Worldwide | Influenza | |
| 1941 | Australia | Rubella | This disease was once considered one of the least troublesome childhood diseases. |
| 1949 | USA | Polio | 2,720 dead, 42,173 reported cases |
| 1952 | USA | Polio | 3,300 dead and over 57,000 cases reported |
| 1952 | USA | Polio | 3,300 dead, 57,628 reported cases |
| 1962-1965 | Worldwide | Rubella | Affected as many as 12.5 million causing deafness, blindness; approximately 30,000 babies in USA alone due to maternal Rubella |
| 1981-Pres | Worldwide | AIDS/HIV | U.S. AIDS cases: 886,575; total estimated AIDS deaths: 501,669 (Centers for Disease Control); 2003 total world AIDS cases: 38 million; total world AIDS deaths: 20 million. |
| 1989-1991 | USA:Maryland first later all USA |
Measles |
Sources: