1854 — Late March through early April (esp.) Scarlet Fever outbreak, Jacksonville, FL-<12

–<12  esp. late March-early April. Merritt. A Century of Medicine in Jacksonville…. 1949, p.32.[1]

Narrative Information

Merritt: “Late in March, scarlet fever became prevalent in Jacksonville…Little Ally Dell…was taken desperately ill and in late February died in the lap of Mrs. Mary Turknett, who nursed her. A diagnosis of scarlet fever was not made until her body was prepared for burial, and the skin was seen to be peeling. The skirt which Mrs. Turknett wore when she shrouded little Ally’s body was not worn again until one month later, whereupon scarlet fever broke out in her family.[2]….the Turknett family received a devastating blow, for five sons, Elliot, Louis, Charles, Robert, and Alex, died between April 2 and April 19. Four died within three days,[3] and two were buried from the same bier. The gravestones in the Old City Cemetery today are a witness to this tragedy….

“On June 15 the editor of the Florida Republican…quoted ‘reports of physicians,’ to show that there had not been more than twelve deaths from scarlet fever….It was stated that the diseases [there was also smallpox] had assumed a prevailing form prior to April 10 [and] that on June 15 there was no scarlet fever….”[4] [pp. 31-32]

Source

Merritt, Webster. A Century of Medicine in Jacksonville and Duval County. “Scarlet Fever and Smallpox.” Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1949. Accessed 4-25-2018 at: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00103093/00001/51x

[1] “‘Reports of physicians’…show that there had not been more than twelve deaths from scarlet fever…” Cites The Florida Republican, 6-15-1854.

[2] Cites in footnote 8: T. Frederick Davis. History of Jacksonville, Florida and Vicinity, p. 102.

[3] Cites in footnote 9: Record book of the Old City Cemetery, confirmed by inscriptions on the gravestones.

[4] Cites in footnote 15: Jacksonville Florida Republican, 6-15-1854.