1775 — Dysentery, DE, MD, NJ (>10), but primarily CT (>146) and MA (>326) — >482

lornajarrettblanchard January 1, 1775

— >482 Blanchard tally of State and local breakouts below.[1]

Connecticut (>146)

–>21 Coventry. Susan W. Dimock. Births, Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths in Coventry, 1897.[2]

–2 Ames family.

–2 Brigham family.

–2 Carpenter family.

–3 Colman family.

–3 Curtiss family.

–4 Cushman family.

–2 Jones family.

–3 Mead family.

–100 Danbury. Noah Webster, Epidemic…Diseases, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 59-60.[3]

— ? Lebanon. Rev. Solomon Williams, Dec 3, notes abatement of the “sore sickness.” Caulfield.

— 24 Middletown, Aug 11-Nov 19. Middletown First Society, cited in Caulfield 1942, 59-60.

— 1 Wintonbury. One of several “sever epidemics” in CT. Caulfield, 1942, pp. 59-60.[4]

Delaware ( ?) Caulfield cites Philip Vickers Fithian noting his hope it would stop in DE.

Maryland ( ?) Caulfield citing Philip Vickers Fithian: Journal, 1775-1776. 1934, p. 32, 94.[5]

Massachusetts (326)

—>12 Bellingham. Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58, citing Vital Records of Bellingham.

–2 Hill family. Vital Records of Bellingham, pp. 189-190.

–3 Eliphalet Holbrook family. Vital Records of Bellingham, pp. 190-194.

–3 Luke Holbrook family. Vital Records of Bellingham, pp. 190-194.

–4 Scott family. Vital Records of Bellingham, pp. 209-210.

—>10 Boston, summer, Jonathan Sewell.[6]

–2 Cotton family. Massachusetts Spy, July 19, 1775 (in Caulfield 1942, 55-56).

–2 Wiswall family. Massachusetts Spy, July 19, 1775 (in Caulfield 1942, 55-56).

—>12 Braintree. Abigail Adams letter to husband, John Adams, cited in Caulfield 1942, 56-57.[7]

— >7 Brimfield. Historical Celebration of the Town of Brimfield, in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–3 Bacon family. Historical Celebration of the Town of Brimfield. Springfield 1879, 90.

–2 Moffatt fam. Historical Celebration of the Town of Brimfield. Springfield 1879, 369.

–2 Sherman fam. Historical Celebration of…Town of Brimfield. Springfield 1879, 453.

— ? Brookline. Epidemic there but less serious than in Groton, Medford and Sutton.[8]

— 1 Cambridge. Cpt. Elihu Adams (brother of John). McCullough. John Adams. NYT.[9]

— 1 Charlestown. Nathan Day, of dysentery, in army camp.[10]

—>15 Chelmsford. Caulfield 1942, 57-58, cites Waters, History of Chelmsford, p. 721.

–3 Butterfield family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, pp. 371-373.

–2 Campbell family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, p. 374.

–2 Chamberlain family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, pp. 376-377.

–2 Isaac Parker family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, pp. 419-420.

–2 Philip Parker family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, pp. 419-420.

–2 Proctor family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, p. 431.

–2 Robbins family. Vital Records of Chelmsford, p. 436.

— 3 Concord, Aug-Oct. Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 17. 2015.

— >3 Dedham.[11] Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

— ? East Bridgewater. Epidemic there but less serious than in Groton, Medford and Sutton.[12]

—>15 Groton (“severe” “epidemic”). Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.[13]

— 15 Lexington (10 children), Aug-Oct. Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 17. 2015.

— 4 Lincoln, Aug-Oct. Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 17. 2015.

–~50 Marlborough (out of population of about 1,400). Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.[14]

—>23 Medford. Brooks, Whitmore and Usher. History of the town of Medford, in Cataldo, 18.[15]

— >7 Medway. Vital Records of Medway, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–5 Adams family. Vital Records of Medway, pp. 283-288.

–2 Hammond family. Vital Records of Medway, p. 312.

–~50 Needham, one parish. Rev. Samuel West, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 56-57.[16]

–7 Family (wife and six children) of Joseph Daniels. (Rev. Samuel West Memoirs).[17]

— 1 Newbury. John Pearson, Sep 28, having returned home from army sick with dysentery.[18]

— >8 Plympton. Vital Records of Plympton, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–4 Boney family. Vital Records of Plympton, p. 443.

–4 Churchil family. Vital Records of Plympton, pp. 458-459.

— 1 Roxbury, Aug 16. Lt. John Bowen. Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 14.[19]

—>20 Sharon. Vital Records of Sharon, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–5 Clifford Belcher family. Vital Records of Sharon, p. 152.

–4 Jeremiah Belcher family. Vital Records of Sharon, p. 152.

–2 Bird family. Vital Records of Sharon, p. 154.

–2 Coney family. Vital Records of Sharon, p. 159.

–5 Richards family. Vital Records of Sharon, pp. 184-186.

–2 Withington family. Vital Records of Sharon, pp. 192-193.

— 10 Stow (8 children), Middlesex Co. Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 17. 2015.

— 3 Sudbury. Wright Richardson Journal, noted in colonialspinningbee.blogspot, 9-1-2015.[20]

— 17 Sutton. Caulfield 1942, pp. 56-57, and 57-58.[21]

— ? Tewksbury. Epidemic there but less serious than in Groton, Medford and Sutton.[22]

— ? Wakefield. Epidemic there but less serious than in Groton, Medford and Sutton.[23]

— 27 Westford, July 25-Sep 23. >2% of pop. (Colonialspinningbee.blogspot.com, 9-1-2015.)[24]

— 25 Westford (23 children), Aug-Oct. Judy Cataldo. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, slide 17. 2015.

–2 Dutton family. Vital Records of Westford, p. 275, cited in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–4 Keyes family. Vital Records of Westford, pp. 293-294, in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–2 Read family. Vital Records of Westford, p. 307-309, in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–3 Robinson family. Vital Records of Westford, p. 312, in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–2 Smith family. Vital Records of Westford, pp. 313-314, in Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

–4 Ephraim Wright fam. Vital Records of Westford, p. 321-325, Caulfield 1942, 57-58.

–2 Thomas Wright fam. Vital Records of Westford, 321-325, in Caulfield 1942, p.57-58.

— 1 Weston. Nathan Stone, Aug., on way home from army to Sutton sick with dysentery.

— ? Weymouth. Abigail Adams writes husband John that Weymouth was “very sickly.”[25]

—>10 Winchendon. Hyde, Ezra. History of the Town of Winchendon. 1849, p. 60.[26]

New Jersey (>10)

— >10 Cumberland Co. Elmer. History of…Settlement…of Cumberland County [NJ]. 1869. 63.[27]

Narrative Information

Caulfield: “If ever there was a dysentery year in New England, it was the memorable year of 1775. On the surface it seems that during this and the next three years dysentery caused the deaths of more children than all other diseases combined. At this late date, chiefly because the newspapers of that time were devoted almost exclusively to war and politics, it is difficult to find detailed descriptions of many local epidemics; but it was a rare New England town that sometime during these four years did not experience an epidemic that would begin in mid-summer, reach its peak in autumn, and disappear in winter, meanwhile killing off children in groups of twos and threes and fours. Occasionally, in some towns, the epidemic would last two summers, while in other towns there would be two separate epidemics, one in 1775 and another in 1778. Altogether it was one of the most fatal periods for children in colonial history.

“As early as June 17, 1775, the ‘Bloody Flux [was] already very bad in Maryland.’ Early in August, Philip Fithian made another note in his diary: ‘. . . many Disorders, chiefly the Flux, are now raging in the lower Counties, Chester, Newcastle &c. I pray God Delaware may be a Bar & stop that painful & deadly disorder. Enough has it ravaged our poor Cohansians . . .’[28]

“It was characteristic of dysentery years for the disease to break out in the southern and middle colonies before it broke out in New England. But also contributing greatly to the magnitude of the New England epidemic were the British troops in Boston and the American troops in Cambridge. The first reports of the disease appeared in the newspapers during July: ‘We hear the camp distemper rages in the regular army in Boston, as also among the distressed inhabitants who are confined in that town by order of Tom. Gage, in open violation of his most solemn engagement. It is to be hoped he will meet the fate of Pharoah of old, whose example he so exactly follows.’[29] In August a letter sent through the lines mentioned that two members of the Cotton family and two of the Wiswall family were dead of the flux.[30] It was also learned that three thousand British troops were sick.[31] Apparently by the end of August the disease had appeared in many inland towns, for there was published on the front page of the Massachusetts Spy a whole column of medical news entitled ‘A Cure for the Bloody Flux.’[32]

“…Dr. John Morgan, who was at the scene, said that army hospitals were crowded and that contagious diseases, including dysentery, were rampant.[33] Certainly if this army camp was anything like the others during 1776 and 1777, conditions were deplorable. It has been authoritatively stated that more wounded men died from contagious diseases after they reached army hospitals than died from the effects of their wounds. Noah Webster, who did not believe that dysentery was contagious and who ridiculed all his contemporaries who disagreed, tried to prove that the Army was not responsible for the spread of dysentery to civilians by pointing out that there were malignant epidemics during 1773 and that even some 1775 epidemics could have had no relation to returning soldiers. But Webster had no conception of “healthy” carriers, and carriers were undoubtedly a major source of trouble. It is difficult to prove this by the evidence now at hand, but there are a few suggestive items. It so happens, for instance, that the first deaths in the Marlborough epidemic of 1775 were in the family of Colonel Abraham Williams, and there are other instances of multiple deaths of children whose brothers or fathers were serving in the war…

“It makes little difference whether or not the Army got its dysentery from British or American sources, for the fact remains that the Army, once infected, was the source of many disastrous local epidemics. The best evidence of this is from the autobiography of the Reverend Samuel West, minister at Needham in 1775:

The Dysentery soon prevailed in the American Army & extended itself more or less through the Country. Although it prevailed most in the Town near camp, my Parish partook largely of this calamity. We buried about 50 persons in the course of the season. Some families were dreadfully bereaved. One in particular a Mr. Joseph Daniels buried an amiable wife & 6 very promising Children in about 6 weeks—we often buried 3 or 4 in a day. My time was wholly devoted to visiting the sick, attendance on the dying & the dead.[34]

“Writing to her husband about the sickness in her family, Abigail, wife of John Adams,[35] vividly described the epidemic in Braintree. ‘The desolation of war is not so distressing as the havoc made by the pestilence. Some poor parents are mourning the loss of three, four, and five children; and some families are wholly stripped of every member . . . ’Tis a dreadful time with the whole province. Sickness and death are in almost every family. I have no more shocking and terrible idea of any distemper, except the plague, than this.’

“The Marlborough records are complete enough to show that the epidemic in that town was the “most destructive” in its history.[36] Out of a population of one thousand four hundred there were seventy-eight deaths during 1775, perhaps fifty from camp distemper. The vital records show many multiple deaths.

“In Dedham…August 29, 1775, there was a ‘Parish Fast on acc^t of the mortal Dysentery’ which had been raging for at least a week;[37] and in Groton, Medford, and Sutton the epidemics appear to have been severe. Those in Brookline, East Bridgewater, Tewksbury, and Wakefield appear less serious on the basis of incomplete records. Of the more than twenty-five still unidentified but simultaneous epidemics, the worst were in Bellingham, Brimfield, Chelmsford, Medway, Plympton, Sharon, and Westford.

“In addition there were scattered dysentery deaths but no evidence of serious epidemics in numerous other towns in eastern Massachusetts. A Thanksgiving proclamation dated November 4, 1775, mentions the “wasting sickness . . . in many of our Towns,” although by that time it was apparently subsiding, for the “voice of health” was once again being heard.[38]

“In Connecticut, according to Noah Webster, there were one hundred dysentery deaths in Danbury;[39] and in Middletown dysentery followed in the wake of “cynanche maligna” in the spring.[40] There were severe epidemics also in Wethersfield, Wintonbury, and, particularly, Coventry. The Reverend Solomon Williams preached a sermon on December 3, 1775, on the abatement of the ‘sore sickness’ accompanied by multiple deaths in Lebanon and ‘in many towns.’[41]” (Caulfield. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” 1942, pp. 55-60.)

Hyde: “Seasons of great Mortality, Sudden Deaths, &c.

“Few towns have been favored with more general health than this; yet there have been seasons of great mortality. The disorders which have prevailed to the greatest extent, have been the dysentery and the canker-rash. In 1775, the dysentery, then called ‘fever and flux,’ or ‘camp distemper,’ prevailed: some aged people, and many children died.” (Hyde. History of the Town of Winchendon. 1849, p. 60.)

Miller: “Diseases spread quickly in the filthy, overcrowded conditions [of army camps]. Deadly typhoid, smallpox, and dysentery killed thousands. One Delaware doctor recorded that ten to twenty soldiers died of disease for every one killed in battle.” (Miller. Growing Up in Revolution and the New Nation, 1775-1800. 2003, p. 13.)

Sources

Bell, Michael. Food for the Dead. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2011 Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xSwMELSIxkYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Brooks, Charles. History of the Town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, From its First Settlement in 1630 to 1855 (Revised, Enlarged, and Brought Down to 1885, by James M. Usher.) Boston: Rand, Avery & Company, The Franklin Press, 1886. Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ASwWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Cataldo, Judy. 1775 Dysentery Epidemic (presentation of 21 slides). 3-27-2015. Accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://www.slideshare.net/judycataldo7/historycamp2015-1775-dysentery-epidemic

Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, pp. 4-65. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/865

Colonialspinningbee.blogspot.com, 9-1-2015. Accessed 2-1-2018 at: http://colonialspinningbee.blogspot.com/2015/09/?m=0

Elmer, Lucius Q. C. History of the Early Settlement and Progress of Cumberland County, New Jersey; and of the Currency of This and the Adjoining Colonies. Bridgeton, NJ: George F. Nixon, Publisher, 1869. Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xvMCRguVjLoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Find A Grave. “Lieut Samuel Foot, Sr.” Record created on 3-26-2012 by M. Cooley. Accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87418187/Samuel-Foot

Hildreth, Samuel Prescott. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio, with Narratives of Incidents and Occurrences in 1775. Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co., Publishers, 1852. Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=iL9cAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hyde, Ezra. History of the Town of Winchendon, from the Grant of the Township by the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1735, to the Present Time. Worcester: Henry J. Howland, 1849. Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=-WJZAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marvin, Rev. A. P. History of the Town of Winchendon, (Worcester County, Mass.,) from the Grant of Ipswich Canada in 1735, to the Present Time. Winchendon: By author, 1868 Google preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=v2CuIDaPtaIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Miller, Brandon Marie. Growing Up in Revolution and the New Nation, 1775-1800. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2003. Google digital preview accessed 2-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=WDxu48f2bJIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases; with the principal phenomena of the physical world which precede and accompany them, and observations deduced from the facts stated (in two volumes). Hartford, DT: Hudson & Goodwin, 1799. Accessed 1-7-2018 at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N27531.0001.001/1:11?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

[1] These are just a tally of numbers we have seen. By reading description of the widespread and virulent nature of this epidemic I would speculate that hundreds died, whose deaths are not reflected herein.

[2] Cited by Caulfield, in footnote 182. Pages in Dimock noted are pp. 177-179, 187, and 222.

[3] Michael Bell, in Food for the Dead (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2011, p. 243) writes that “In the four hundred families of the First Church in Danbury, Connecticut, one hundred people had died of the camp distemper by November 1774, and according to the minister, many other towns had been similarly stricken.”

[4] Caulfield, in footnote 182, notes, “See New Eng. Hist. Gen. Reg., LXXI, 304-305.” The one death we note is from Findagrave.com, of a soldier, Lt. Samuel Foot, Sr. Specifically notes the cause of death as “`The Camp Distemper,’ dysentery that ran rampant through the war camps.”

[5] “As early as June 17, 1775, the ‘Bloody Flux [was] already very bad in Maryland.’”

[6] Wrote “Death has so long stalked among us that he is become much less terrible to me than he once was…Funerals are now so frequent that for a month past you meet as many dead folks as live ones in Boston streets, and we pass them with much less emotion and attention than we used to pass dead sheep and oxen in days of yore when such sights were to be seen in our streets.” (Quoted by Judy Cataldo in 1775 Dysentery Epidemic slide presentation (slide 11). Caulfield (1942) pp. 55-56, notes that British troops in Boston helped spread dysentery amongst citizens there.

[7] Our number. Caulfield quotes from her letter: “Some poor parents are mourning the loss of three, four, and five children; and some families are wholly stripped of every member…Sickness and death are in almost every family.” To obtain a minimum number we simply added the three, four, and five deaths per family noted.

[8] Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

[9] While we note just this one death, Caulfield writes that Colonial troops had helped to spread dysentery to civilian population. (Caulfield 1942, pp. 55-56.)

[10] Marvin, Rev. A. P. History of the Town of Winchendon, (Worcester County, Mass.,). 1868, p. 359.

[11] The number is our attempt to come with a minimum number to add to tally, based on fact that a Fast was held on Aug 29 in response to “the mortal Dysentery” which had been, in Caulfield’s words, “raging for at least a week.”

[12] Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

[13] Caulfield notes, in footnote 177 that there were multiple deaths in at least seven families: Champney, Hazen, Keys, Moors, Patch, Quailes, and Stone families, though the cause of death is not noted. Notes the death of Abigail Kinrick on Sep 5 that is “expressly attributed to dysentery.”

[14] Notes, at pp. 56-57, that the first deaths were in the family of Colonel Abraham Williams.

[15] “1775: During this and some following years, there was fatal sickness in Medford from dysentery. Out of fifty-six deaths in 1775, twenty-three were children.” It is possible that most, if not all, of the deaths were due to dysentery, but this is not clear. While all twenty-three child deaths may not have been from dysentery, we use this figure, given the ambiguity, because the very young were more susceptible and vulnerable to the effects of dysentery. Caulfield notes, in footnote 177, deaths attributed to dysentery in Angier, Blanchard, Brooks, Calf, Faulkner, Hall, Vitent, Wade, and Winship families. Cites Brooks, History of Medford, 450.

[16] In a slide presentation on the 1775 Dysentery Epidemic, Judy Cataldo notes that “4 deaths in Needham in 1775 would be about 200 people a day today.” (slide 5 of 21)

[17] See Narrative section below. Rev. West goes on to note “we often buried 3 or 4 in a day.”

[18] Caulfield 1942, pp. 56-57.

[19] Hildreth, in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer… p. 381, cites Aug letter of orderly-sergeant Jonathan Stone, noting he was sick with the “camp distemper” which in the words of Hildreth, “prevailed amongst the troops, and extended into the country towns, as was thought by contagion from the sick soldiers.”

[20] “Now God is trying us with another terrible judgement that is the feavour & bloody flux & several have Died of it.” Journal of Experience Wright Richardson, Sudbury Massachusetts, August 29, 1775, privately published 1978. In order to contribute to our tally we “translate” “several” into three.

[21] Notes four deaths in the family of Captain Arthur Daggett, as well as “camp distemper” deaths in the Allen, Bruce, Cordwell, Gibbs, Goold, Haden, Lilly, Marble, Sibley, Stone, Walker, Whipple, and Woodberry families.

[22] Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

[23] Caulfield 1942, pp. 57-58.

[24] The “summer of 1775 was a sad time in Westford Massachusetts when the town experienced an epidemic of dysentery known as the Bloody Flux. 27 died, most were children and uncounted others were sick. The town lost over 2% of the population based on a census from 1776 the year after so the percentage lost was likely higher. The blogger (Judy) lists the names, dates of death, age, and cemetery location on this web page.

[25] “Dr. Tufts [tells] me he has between 60 and 70 patients now sick with this disorder.” They did not appear to be mortally sick. (Sep 16, 1775 letter; quoted on slide 12 of Judy Cataldo presentation on 1775 Dysentery Epidemic.)

[26] Our number, for the purpose of a tally, based upon statement: “…some aged people, and many children died.”

[27] Our number, in order to be able to include in a tally, based on statement: “The dysentery was very prevalent and fatal in Cumberland County in 1775.” Given that a war was being fought, and dysentery amongst troops, spreading into settlements, our assumption of ten or more dysentery deaths in the county seems conservative.

[28] Cites, in footnote 164: Philip Vickers Fithian: Journal, 1775-1776, Robert G. Albion and Leonidas Dodson, Editors (Princeton, 1934), 32, 94.

[29] Cites, in footnote 165: Massachusetts Spy, July 19, 1775.

[30] Cites, in footnote 166: Massachusetts Spy, August 16, 1775.

[31] Cites, in footnote 167: Massachusetts Spy, August 23, 1775.

[32] Cites, in footnote 168: Massachusetts Spy, August 30, 1775.

[33] Cites: Louis C. Duncan. Medical Men in the American Revolution, 1775-1783. Carlisle Barracks, PA: 1931.

[34] Cites in fn 173, Dedham Historical Register, II (January, 1891), 22. Caulfield writes: “The dates given on the Daniels tombstone show that the seven deaths in that family occurred between August 31 and September 12, 1775.”

[35] Cites, in footnote 174: Charles F. Adams. Letters of Mrs. Adams. Boston: 1841, li, 69.

[36] Cites, in footnote 175: Charles Hudson. History of the Town of Marlborough. Boston: 1862, pp. 186 and 252; also Vital Records of Marlborough.

[37] Cites, in footnote 176, Dedham Historical Register, III (July 1892), 130.

[38] Cites, in footnote 179, Massachusetts Spy, Nov 17, 1775.

[39] Noah Webster. Pestilential Diseases, I, 263; II. 23.

[40] Cites, in footnote 180, The Middletown First Society.

[41] Caulfield, in footnote 183, cites: The Greatness and Sovereignty of God, Sufficient Reason to Silence Man’s Complaints of his Providence. Norwich: 1977, p. 24.