1746 — Aug-frost (probably Oct), Yellow Fever or Typhoid epidemic, Albany, NY — 45
–45 Curtis. “Medicine in Albany County,” in Bi-Centennial History of Albany. 1886, p. 207.
–45 US Census. Report of the Social Statistics of Cities… 1886, p. 449
Narrative Information
Curtis: “In 1746 a malignant epidemic of what was called the Barbadoes distemper, and also various other names, reached Albany. It was imported from foreign ships, and, beginning in August, ended with frost. From the description it was clearly yellow fever. It carried off 45 victims, mostly robust men.”
Duffy (Yellow Fever Chapter): “A year later [1746] an epidemic fever in Albany, New York, aroused considerable interest. Three of the most outstanding colonial physicians studied the outbreak but were unable to agree on its exact cause. Dr. Mitchell gathered evidence showing that many of the victims turned yellow, but he did not try to determine what the disease was. Douglass unhesitatingly called it yellow fever, but Colden declared it was a nervous fever.”[1]
“The seriousness of the epidemic was emphasized by Governor George Clinton in an address to the New York general assembly. Speaking of a trip which he had made with Colden the previous July he told the assemblymen that ‘When e came to Albany that place was afflicted with a contagious Distemper of which many dy’d more perhaps in proportion to the number of people during our residence there of near three months on the publick Service than perhaps has happen’d in this age in North America.’[2] In as much as Colden was familiar with yellow fever and was the only one of the three who actually witnessed the outbreak, his diagnosis of nervous fever doubtlessly was the correct one. The nervous or continuous fever of Colden’s time is the typhoid of today — a disease much more likely to have prevailed as far inland as Albany.” (pp. 157-158)
Keating: “A History of the Yellow Fever….1746.–Albany, N. Y., commencing in August.” (p. 78)
Toner: Toner, in a listing of epidemics by type, and then by place and year, lists Albany, in 1746 within both “Nervous fever” and Yellow fever.” (p. 94.)
U.S. Census: “In 1746 Albany was visited by an epidemic of yellow fever which carried off 45 of its inhabitants — nearly 2 per cent. of the population.” (p. 449)
Sources
Curtis, Frederic C., MD. “Medicine in Albany County.” Bi-Centennial History of Albany: History of the County of Albany, N.Y., From 1609 to 1886 Part 1 (George Rogers Howell, editor). New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., Publishers, 1886. Google preview accessed 4-4-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=HGkJAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.
Keating, J. M. A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN: Howard Association, 1879. Google preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Toner, Joseph M, MD. Contributions to the Annals of Medical Progress and Medical Education in the United States Before and During The War of Independence. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1874. Google preview accessed 4-4-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=BRUJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
United States Census Office. Department of the Interior. “Social Statistics of Cities. New York. Albany, Albany County, New York: Historical Sketch.” Report of the Social Statistics of Cities, Compiled by George E. Waring, Jr., Expert and Special Agent. Part I. The New England and the Middle States. Part II. The Southern and the Western States. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886. Google preview accessed 4-4-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=i79NAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[1] Cites, in footnote 37, page 157, Webster. History of Epidemic Diseases, I, 239.
[2] Cites in footnote 38, page 158, ,Message of Governor George Clinton to New York General Assembly, November 24, 1746, in Colden Papers, III, 1919, p. 289.