"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:
 
  1657   Boston                                  Measles
  1687   Boston                                  Measles
  1690   New York                                Yellow Fever
  1713   Boston                                  Measles
  1729   Boston                                  Measles
  1732-3 Worldwide                               Influenza
  1738   South Carolina                          Smallpox
  1739-40        Boston                          Measles
  1747   CT,NY,PA,SC                             Measles
  1759   N. Amer [areas inhabited by white people]  Measles
  1761   N. Amer and West Indies                 Influenza
  1772   N. America                              Measles
  1775   N. Amer [especially hard in NE] epidemic  Unknown
  1775-6 Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics]  Influenza
  1783   Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"]              Bilious
  Disorder
  1788   Philadelphia and New York                 Measles
  1793   Vermont [a "putrid" fever] and          Influenza
  1793   VA [killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks]   Influenza
  1793   Philadelphia [one of the worst epidemics]  Yellow Fever
  1793   Harrisburg, PA [many unexplained deaths]   Unknown
  1793   Middletown, PA [many mysterious deaths]    Unknown
  1794   Philadelphia, PA                           Yellow Fever
  1796-7 Philadelphia, PA                           Yellow
  Fever
  1798   Philadelphia, PA [one of the worst]         Yellow  Fever  
  1803   New York                                    Yellow Fever
  1820-3 Nationwide [starts-Schuylkill River and
  spreads]                                           "Fever"
  1831-2 Nationwide [brought by English emigrants]    
                                                 Asiatic  Cholera
  1832   NY City and other major cities                   Cholera
  1837   Philadelphia                                     Typhus
  1841   Nationwide [especially severe in the south]      Yellow
  Fever
  1847   New Orleans                                   Yellow Fever
  1847-8 Worldwide                                     Influenza
  1848-9 North America                                 Cholera
  1850   Nationwide                                    Yellow Fever
  1850-1 North America                                 Influenza
  1852   Nationwide [New Orleans-8,000 die in summer]    Yellow
  Fever
  1855   Nationwide [many parts]                       Yellow Fever
  1857-9 Worldwide [one of the greated epidemics]      Influenza
  1860-1 Pennsylvania                                  Smallpox
  1865-73        Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans}  {Smallpox
         Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC}              {Cholera
         [A series of recurring epidemics of:}           {Typhus
                                                 {Typhoid
                                                 {Scarlet Fever
                                                 {Yellow Fever
  1873-5 N. America and Europe                   Influenza
  1878   New Orleans [last great epidemic]               Yellow Fever
  1885   Plymouth, PA                            Typhoid
  1886   Jacksonville, FL                                Yellow Fever
  1918   Worldwide[high point yr] more people were       {Influenza
         hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic 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, The Great Plains, and Missouri


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