Tweet
~ Epidemic Timeline ~
~ Epidemic Timeline ~
In case you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors disappeared during a certain period in history, the list below might help. Epidemics have always had a great influence on people by causing a large part of the population to become sick or die. This, in turn, weakened the community.
Many cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Genealogists should look for a large number of people dying in the same year or a large population shift. Knowing when and where epidemics occurred can help explain changes in your ancestors behavior.
Medical knowledge has grown significantly in the past 50 to 100 years. Prior to the 1940s - before antibiotics were available - an epidemic could get out of control very quickly and there was little doctors could do about it. Today, we live in a world that has advanced greatly since that time and has made very specific efforts to cure or control outbreaks of diseases.
Some of the major epidemics in the United States and elsewhere are listed below. This does not purport to be a complete list of epidemics and pandemics.
Other situations, such as famine or significant changes in weather patterns, also caused a great trouble to our ancestors. Conditions were difficult in the best of times where bathing was considered unhealthy. One or two added problems, then, could wreak havoc in the general population.
<hr> Epidemics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="20%">Period</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="25%">Location</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="21%">Disease</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="53%">Notes</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1332</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">India</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Original location of this pandemic.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1346-1348</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1348-1350</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Europe; Marseille France; Tunis North Africa</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Nearly 1/3 the population of Europe succumbed in the first two years.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1349</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Norway, Scotland, Prussia, Iceland, and Italy</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1351</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Russia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1485</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">The Sweat</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Transported from Rouen by mercenaries recruited to help establish Henry Tudor. Also called The Swat, New Acquaintance, Stoupe, or Knave know they master.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1508</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">The Sweat</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">A fast acting disease that many claimed "they were dancing in court at nine and dead at eleven." An apparently virile 24 hour disease.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1517</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">The Sweat</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1518-1520</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Aztec Empire (Mexico)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Brought to the New World with the Spanish, it aided the conquest since the Aztecs didn't have any immunity.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1527-1530</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Inca Empire (Peru)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1539-1540</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Loughborough England has been cited as an example of the many plague outbreaks throughout this time period.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1550-1566</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">The population of England may have fallen as much as 6% between 1550 and 1560 due, primarily, to the plague.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1551</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">The Sweat</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1577</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Oxford England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">goal fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1581</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">York England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">goal fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1590</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Lincoln England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">goal fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1615</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">a burning fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Little known of this disease except that it coincided with an outbreak of Hot Ague (fever) elsewhere in England and Europe.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1616</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">American Indian population is hard hit.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1634-1635</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1636</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Hereford England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">goal fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1638</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">unidentified fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1649</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New England, Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Boston especially hard hit.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1657</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1660-1661</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">unidentified fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1666</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">London England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bubonic Plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Last great outbreak.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1666</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1678</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New England</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1687</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1690</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New York (city)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1711</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Europe, especially Northern Europe</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Plague</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Source: World Almanac 1994</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1713</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1729</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1732-33</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1738</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">SC</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1739-40</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Boston</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1747</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">CT, NY, PA, SC</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1759</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Mostly areas inhabited by white people</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1761</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America & West Indies</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1772</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1775</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">unknown</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Especially hard in New England</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1775-76</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">One of worst flu epidemics</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1783</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">DE (Dover area)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Bilious Disorder</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Extremely fatal</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1788</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia & NY</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1793</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">VT</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza and a "putrid fever"</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1793</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">VA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Killed 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1793</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Over 4,000 dead</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1793</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">PA (Harrisburg & Middletown)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">many unexplained deaths
</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1794</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1796-97</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1798</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">One of the worst</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1803</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New York City</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1820-23</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">"fever"</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Starts on the Schuylkill River in PA and spreads across the nation</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1831-32</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Asiatic Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Brought by English immigrants</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1832</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New York & other major cities</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Over 3,000 dead in NYC from July to August! In October over 4,000 died in New Orleans!</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1833</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Columbus OH</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1834</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New York City</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1837</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Typhus</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1841</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Especially severe in the South</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1847</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New Orleans</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1847-48</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1848-49</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1849</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">NYC</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Over 4,000 dead in NYC during 1848</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1850</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1850-51</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1851</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Coles Co IL</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1851</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">The Great Plains</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1851</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">MO</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1852-53</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Nearly 8,000 die in New Orleans during the summer</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1854</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Corpus Christi TX</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1855</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA (many parts) </td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1857-59</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza (one of disease's greatest epidemics)</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1860-61</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">PA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1862-63</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Southern California</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Smallpox</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Many Native American Indians and Mexicans died; San Diego Historical Society tells the tale of fear.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1865-73</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis & Washington DC</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">A series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever and Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1873</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">AL</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Cholera</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Moved along the railroad lines from Huntsville to Birmingham and Montgomery as these cities industrialized</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1867</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Indianola, Galveston, Corpus Christi TX; New Orleans LA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Over 3,00 perish in New Orleans alone</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1873-75</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">North America & Europe</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Influenza</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1878</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">New Orleans</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Last great epidemic of the disease; over 13,000 die in the Mississippi Valley alone</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1878</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Northern NJ (elsewhere?)</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Diptheria</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Occurred in the Spring.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1883</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">AL</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1885</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Plymouth PA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Typhoid</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1886</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Jacksonville FL</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1895</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Washington DC</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Malaria</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1898</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Cuba</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Yellow Fever</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Spanish-American War; the disease took over 5,000 soldiers (only 968 died in combat!) in just July & August</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1916</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Polio (infantile paralysis)</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Over 7,000 deaths and more than 27,000 cases reported in America's worst polio epidemic</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1918</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Spanish Influenza
(1918 was the high point year)</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">More people hospitalized in WWI from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps with 80% death rate in some camps.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1941</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Australia</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Rubella (German Measles)</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">This disease was once considered one of the least troublesome childhood diseases.</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1952</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Polio</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">3,300 dead and over 57,000 cases reported</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1962-65</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Rubella (German Measles)</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">Affected as many as 12.5 million causing deafness, blindness; approximately 30,000 babies in USA alone due to maternal rubella</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1981-Present</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">World wide</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">AIDS/HIV</td> <td valign="top" width="53%">This pandemic is now known to have "jumped" from monkeys to humans several times before but died out; this time, however, transportation and unsafe sexual practices helped the disease to spread </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1989-1991</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">MD first, later all USA</td> <td valign="top" width="21%">Measles</td> <td valign="top" width="53%"> </td> </tr> </tbody></table>
<hr color="#000000" size="4" width="90%"> Other Crisis
<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" border="0" bordercolor="#111111" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="20%">Period</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="25%">Location</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="30%">Crisis</td> <td bgcolor="#c0c0c0" valign="top" width="44%">Notes</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="20%">1846-1850</td> <td valign="top" width="25%">Ireland</td> <td valign="top" width="30%">Potato Famine</td> <td valign="top" width="44%">A fungus infected the potato crop, the mainstay of the diet of the lower classes at that time.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Comment