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 | Place | Disease |
|---|---|---|
| 1657 | Boston | Measles |
| 1687 | Boston | Measles |
| 1690 | New York | Yellow Fever |
| 1713 | Boston | Measles |
| 1729 | Boston | Measles |
| 1732-33 | Worldwide | Influenza |
| 1738 | South Carolina | Smallpox |
| 1739-40 | Boston | Measles |
| 1747 | Conn, NY, PA & SC | Measles |
| 1759 | North America (areas inhabited by white people) | Measles |
| 1761 | North America & West Indies | Influenza |
| 1772 | North America | Measles |
| 1775 | North America (especially hard in New England) | Epidemic (unknown) |
| 1775-76 | Worldwide | Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics) |
| 1783 | Delaware (Dover) "extremely fatal" bilious disorder | |
| 1788 | Philadelphia & NY | Measles |
| 1793 | Vermont | Influenza and a "putrid fever" |
| 1793 | Virginia | Influenza (killed 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks) |
| 1793 | Philadelphia | Yellow Fever (one of worst) |
| 1793 | Pennsylvania (Harrisburg & Middletown) many unexplained deaths | |
| 1794 | Philadelphia | Yellow Fever |
| 1796-97 | Philadelphia | Yellow Fever |
| 1798 | Philadelphia | Yellow Fever (one of worst) |
| 1803 | New York | Yellow Fever |
| 1820-23 | Nationwide | "fever" (starts on Schuylkill River, PA & spreads) |
| 1831-32 | Nationwide | Asiatic Cholera (brought by English emigrants) |
| 1832 | New York & other major cities | Cholera |
| 1837 | Philadelphia | Typhus |
| 1841 | Nationwide | Yellow Fever (especially severe in South) |
| 1847 | New Orleans | Yellow Fever |
| 1847-48 | Worldwide | Influenza |
| 1848-49 | North America | Cholera |
| 1850 | Nationwide | Yellow Fever |
| 1850-51 | North America | Influenza |
| 1852 | Nationwide | Yellow Fever (New Orleans 8,000 die in summer) |
| 1855 | Nationwide (many parts) | Yellow Fever |
| 1857-59 | Worldwide | Influenza (one of disease's greatest epidemics) |
| 1860-61 | Pennsylvania | Smallpox |
| 1865-73 | Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis & Washington DC | A series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever |
| 1873-75 | Influenza | |
| 1878 | New Orleans | Yellow Fever (last great epidemic of disease) |
| 1885 | Plymouth, PA | Typhoid |
| 1886 | Jacksonville, FL | Yellow Fever |
| 1918 | Worldwide | Influenza (high point year) More people hospitalized in World War I from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps - with 80% death rate in some camps. Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned |
| 1833 | Columbus, OH | |
| 1834 | New York City | |
| 1849 | New York | |
| 1851 | Coles Co, IL | |
| 1851 | The Great Plains |
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