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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)LocationDiseaseComment
1332IndiaBubonic PlagueOriginal location of this pandemic.
1347-1350EuropeBubonic PlagueNearly 1/3 the population of Europe succumbed in the first two years.
1349Norway
Scotland
Prussia
Iceland
Italy		Bubonic Plague
1351RussiaBubonic Plague
1485EnglandThe SweatAlso called The Swat, New Acquaintance, Stoupe, or "Knave know thy master".
1508EnglandThe SweatA fast acting disease, "they were dancing in court at nine and dead at eleven."
1517EnglandThe Sweat
1518-1520Mexico:Aztec EmpireSmallpoxBrought to South America by the Spanish
1527-1530Peru:Inca EmpireSmallpox
1539-1540EnglandBubonic Plague
1550-1566EnglandBubonic PlagueThe population of England may have fallen as much as 6% between 1550 and 1560 due, primarily, to the plague.
1551EnglandThe Sweat
1577England:OxfordGoal fever
1581England:YorkGoal fever
1590England:LincolnGoal fever
1615EnglandUnknown burning fever
1616USA:New EnglandSmallpoxMostly affects Native Americans
1634-1635EnglandSmallpox
1636England:HerefordGoal fever
1638EnglandUnidentified fever
1647USA:MassachusettsYellow Fever
1649USA:New England
USA:Massachusetts:Boston		SmallpoxBoston especially hard hit.
1657USA:Massachusetts:BostonMeasles
1657USA:Massachusetts:Boston Measles
1660-1661EnglandUnidentified fever
1666England:LondonBubonic PlagueLast great outbreak.
1666USA:New EnglandSmallpox
1678USA:New EnglandSmallpox
1687USA:Massachusetts:BostonMeasles
1690USA:New York:New York CityYellow Fever
1711Europe
especially Northern Europe		Plague
1713USA:Massachusetts:BostonMeasles
1729USA:Massachusetts:BostonMeasles
1732-1733WorldwideInfluenza
1736USA:Massachusetts:Essex Co.Throat Distemper900 children died within 6 months in Essex County alone. Probably diphtheria.
1738USA:South CarolinaSmallpox
1739-1740USA:Massachusetts:BostonMeasles
1747USA:Connecticut
USA:New York
USA:Pennsylvania
USA:South Carolina 		Measles
1759North America Measles
1761North America
West Indies		Influenza
1770-1772BalkansPlague
1772North AmericaMeasles
1775North AmericaUnknownEspecially in New England
1775-1776WorldwideInfluenza
1783USA:Delaware:DoverBilious Fever
1788USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia
USA:New York:New York City		Measles
1793USA:Pennsylvania:HarrisburgUnknown
1793USA:Pennsylvania:MiddletownUnknown
1793USA:VermontInfluenzaKilled 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks
1793USA:VirginiaInfluenza
1793-1794USA:Pennsylvania:PhiladelphiaYellow FeverOver 4,000 dead
1796-1797USA:Pennsylvania:PhiladelphiaYellow Fever
1798USA:Pennsylvania:PhiladelphiaYellow Fever
1803USA:New York:New York CityYellow Fever
1820-1823USAFeverStarts on the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania and spreads across the nation
1820-1823USAFever
1831-1832USAAsiatic CholeraBrought by English immigrants
1832Ayrshire towns of Stevenston,
Dalry, and Kilbride		Cholera
1832USA:New York:New York CityCholeraMore than 3,000 dead
1832USA;Louisiana:New OrleansCholera4,340 dead
1832-1833USA:Missouri:St. LouisCholera
1833USA:Ohio:ColumbusCholera
1834USA:New York:New York CityCholera
1835USA:Missouri:St. LouisCholera
1837USA:Pennsylvania:PhiladelphiaTyphus
1841USAYellow Fever
1846-1850IrelandPotato FamineA fungus called "the Blight" infected the potato crop
1847USA:Louisiana:New OrleansYellow Fever
1847-1848WorldwideInfluenza
1848-1849North AmericaCholera
1848-1849USA:New York:New York CityCholeraMore than 5,000 dead
1850USAYellow Fever
1850-1851North AmericaInfluenza
1851USA:Great PlainsCholera
1851USA:Illinois:Coles CountyCholera
1851USA:MissouriCholera
1852USA;Louisiana:New OrleansYellow Fever8,000 dead
1854USA:Texas:Corpus ChristiYellow Fever
1855USAYellow Fever
1857-1859WorldwideInfluenza
1860-1861USA:PennsylvaniaSmallpox
1862-1863USA:Southern CaliforniaSmallpoxMany Native Americans and Mexicans died
1865-1873USA:Pennsylvania:Philadelphia
USA:New York
USA:Massachusetts:Boston
USA:Louisiana:New Orleans		Smallpox
1866USA:Maryland:Baltimore
USA:Tennessee:Memphis
USA:Washington DC		Cholera
1867USA:Texas:Indianola, Galveston, and Corpus ChristiYellow Fever
1867USA;Louisiana:New OrleansYellow Fever3,093 dead
1873USA:AlabamaCholeraMoved along the railroad lines from Huntsville to Birmingham and Montgomery as these cities industrialized
1873-1875North America and EuropeInfluenza
1878USA:Northern New Jersey, possibly elsewhereDiphtheriaOccurred in the Spring
1878USA:Southern statesYellow FeverOver 13,000 dead in lower Missisippi Valley
1883USA:AlabamaYellow Fever
1885USA:Pennsylvania:PlymouthTyphoid
1886USA:Florida:JacksonvilleYellow Fever
1895USA:Washington DCMalaria
1898CubaYellow FeverSpanish-American War; the disease took over 5,000 soldiers in July and August, only 968 died in combat
1900USA:Texas:GalvestonCholera
1905New Orleans
LA		Yellow Fever
1916USAPolioOver 7,000 deaths, 27,363 reported cases, America's worst polio epidemic
1918USASpanish InfluenzaOver 500,000 dead, worst single U.S. epidemic
1918-1919WorldwideInfluenza
1941AustraliaRubellaThis disease was once considered one of the least troublesome childhood diseases.
1949USAPolio2,720 dead, 42,173 reported cases
1952USAPolio3,300 dead and over 57,000 cases reported
1952USAPolio3,300 dead, 57,628 reported cases
1962-1965WorldwideRubellaAffected as many as 12.5 million causing deafness, blindness; approximately 30,000 babies in USA alone due to maternal Rubella
1981-PresWorldwideAIDS/HIVU.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.
1989-1991USA:Maryland first
later all USA		Measles

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