1870 — Smallpox, esp. MO/1,034, LA/925, NY/582, OH/332, CA/254, IL/170 –>4,597
—>4,597 Blanchard. (See Census note below on significant undercounts–this is a minimum.)
— 4,597 U.S Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xvii.
AL 20 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
AZ 95 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
AR 29 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
CA 254 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
CO 1 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
CT 10 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
DK (Dakota)– U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
DE — U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
DC 3 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
FL 1 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
GA 18 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
ID — U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
IL 170 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
Chicago 15 U.S. National Board of Health. Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1883.[1]
IN 60 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
IA 24 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
KS 40 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
KY 175 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
LA 925 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
ME 14 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MD 6 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MA 116 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MI 26 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MN 36 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MS 54 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MO 1,034 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
MT 11 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NE 5 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NV 29 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NH 2 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NJ 22 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NM 36 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NY 582 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
NC 3 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
OH 332 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
Cincinnati 93 Twitchell, George B, MD (Cincinnati). “The Prevention of Smallpox.” 1906, p. 693.[2]
OR 3 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
PA 25 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
Philadelphia 9 City of Philadelphia. Annual Report (Vol. III), 1907, p. 99.[3] Death rate of .01 per 1K.
RI 11 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
SC 3 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
TN 94 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
TX 125 U.S .Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
UT 2 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
VE 4 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
WA — U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
WI 104 U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
WY — U.S. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xxi
Total deaths all causes: 492,263. Census. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics… 1872, p. xvii.
Narrative Information
U.S. Census Office on the 1870 Census: “If the value of the Statistics of Mortality in a census of the United States, taken under existing laws, depended upon the return of substantially the whole body of deaths occurring during the year covered by the enumeration, the results would not be worth the space occupied by publication, much less the expense of collection and compilation. At no one of the three censuses taken under the act of May 23, 1850, has the aggregate number of deaths returned by the assistant marshals risen above two-thirds of the number of deaths probably occurring during the year of enumeration, as that number is deduced from the experience of other countries, from the experience of sections of our own country having an established system of registration, and from the ascertained law of the national increase. With such wholesale omissions from the number of deaths, therefore, if the Statistics Mortality depended for their value on any assumed completeness in the returns of assistant marshals, the whole would deserve a contemptuous rejection at the outset, and not an elaborate and expensive compilation and publication; but as matter of fact, the value of the following statistics arises from the consideration that these tables distribute a body of deaths approaching half a million,[4] among the several periods of life, between the two sexes, according to cause of death and month of death, by race, by nationality, and by occupation. Deeply as it is to be regretted that the census of the United States does not afford the material for determining exactly the death-rate of States and sections, and of deducing the effect of the various conditions of life upon the duration of life, from statistics complete and accurate in every particular, the Tables of Mortality in the census have still their value….
“It is easy to explain the cause of the wholesale omissions from the return of deaths in the census, which have been referred to. To take the recent census as an example, the census law required the return of all deaths occurring in families, from the 1st of June, 1869, to the 31st of May, 1870; in all, twelve months. The enumeration if the course of which this was to be accomplished began on the 1st of June, 1870, and closed, nominally, on the 1st of October, but really about the 1st of January, 1871. Thus, the officers of the census were called upon to recover all the deaths occurring during the census year, at a distance in time ranging from one day to nineteen months from the dates at which such deaths severally occurred. The antecedent improbability of success in such an attempt would be of the strongest; while the actual experience of three censuses has shown that assistant marshals fall short of the true number of deaths by not far from 40 per cent., as a rule. In some cases assistant marshals fail to put the question; in others, heads of families, or persons answering for them, fail to recall the fact of a death occurring during the year, especially when ten or eleven months have already elapsed since the date of death, and the mind, not unnaturally, refers to the even as having taken place a year or longer before. In still another large number of cases, persons die out of families, which class of cases seems not to have been in contemplation of the census law, which makes the return of mortality a family return. In still other cases, deaths occur in families, but the very death itself breaks up the family and scatters the surviving members, leaving no one to report the death in the census. In still other cases, deaths occur in what are constructively families for the purposes of the census, i.e., boarding-houses, hotels, &c., but the common tie of membership or association is here so casual and so slight that the chances are altogether against the circumstance being retained in memory six or eight months after….” (United States Census Office. “Remarks Upon the Statistics of Mortality.” P. ix.)
[Blanchard note: Other Census reports also mention the problem of correctly identifying the cause of death as well as the various competing names in circulation in areas or regions for the country for the same disease.]
CDC: “Before smallpox was eradicated, it was mainly spread by direct and fairly prolonged face-to-face contact between people. Smallpox patients became contagious once the first sores appeared in their mouth and throat (early rash stage). They spread the virus when they coughed or sneezed and droplets from their nose or mouth spread to other people. They remained contagious until their last smallpox scab fell off. These scabs and the fluid found in the patient’s sores also contained the variola virus. The virus can spread through these materials or through the objects contaminated by them, such as bedding or clothing. People who cared for smallpox patients and washed their bedding or clothing had to wear gloves and take care to not get infected. Rarely, smallpox has spread through the air in enclosed settings, such as a building (airborne route). Smallpox can be spread by humans only. Scientists have no evidence that smallpox can be spread by insects or animals.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Smallpox. Transmission. How does Smallpox Spread?” 6-7-2016 last review.)
Smallpox: “Smallpox is a disease with seven-league boots. Its effects are terrifying; the fever and the pain; the swift appearance of pustules that sometimes destroy the skin and transform the victim into a gory horror; the astounding death rates, up to one-fourth, one-half, or more with the worst strains. The healthy flee, leaving the ill behind to face certain death, and often taking the disease along with them. The incubation period for smallpox is ten to fourteen days, long enough for the ephemerally healthy carrier to flee for long distances on foot, by canoe, or, later, on horseback to people who know nothing of the threat he represents, and there to infect them and inspire others newly charged with the virus to flee to infect new innocents….” (Crosby, Alfred W. “Virgin Soil Epidemics,” in Warren, American Environmental History, 2003, 53-54.)
Smallpox: “Between 1600 and 1775, smallpox was both universal and fatal in Europe and North America; it was a major cause of death in colonial America (Duffy 1953[5]). Smallpox is a highly communicable viral disease that causes 3 to 4 days of high fever and rapid pulse with intense headache and back pain, followed by skin eruptions that eventually develop into pustules. Once infected, the person either dies or survives with an extended period of immunity. The virus typically is passed from host to host, but it can also remain infectious for months on inanimate objects, including bedding and clothing.” (Lamb. “Historical and Epidemiological Trends in Mortality in the United States,” 2003. 185.)
Sources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Smallpox. Transmission. How does Smallpox Spread?” 6-7-2016 last review. Accessed 8-4-2019 at: https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/transmission/index.html )
City of Philadelphia. First Annual Message of John E. Reyburn, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia with the Annual Reports of the Departments of Public Health and Charities, Supplies, Public Education, Law, City Controller, City Treasurer, Commissioners of the Sinking Funds, Receiver of Taxes, and Board of Revision of Taxes for the Year Ending December 31, 1907 (Vol. III). Philadelphia: Dunlap Printing Co., 1908. Google digitized. Assessed 12-5-2012: http://books.google.com/books?id=0ihNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Crosby, Alfred W. “Virgin Soil Epidemics,” in Warren, American Environmental History, 2003, 53-54.
Lamb, Vicki L. “Historical and Epidemiological Trends in Mortality in the United States.” Pp. 185-197 in Bryant, Clifton D. (Ed.). Handbook of Death & Dying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003. Google preview accessed 3-12-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=3z9EpgisKOgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=true
Mitchell, E. W., M.D. “History of Epidemics in Cincinnati.” University of Cincinnati Medical Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 1, November 1920, pp. 10-18. Accessed 3-15-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=cvErAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Twitchell, George B, MD (Cincinnati). “The Prevention of Smallpox.” Pp. 693-696 in The Lancet-Clinic (Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery). New Series, Vol. LVI. Cincinnati: Lancet-Clinic Co., Jan-June, 1906. Google preview accessed 4-29-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=4RACAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
United States National Board of Health. Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1883. Washington, DC: GPO, 1884. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=MtuxEGC1Vp4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true
United States Census Office, Department of Interior. Ninth Census – Volume II. The Vital Statistics of the United States, Embracing The Tables of Deaths, Births, Sex, and Age. Washington: GPO, 1872. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=GssqAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[1] “Table of mortality from small-pox in the city of Chicago from 1851 to 1882, inclusive.” p. 134.
[2] Also : Mitchell, E. W., M.D. “History of Epidemics in Cincinnati.” University of Cincinnati Medical Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 1, November 1920, p. 13.
[3] Table entitled “Deaths from Smallpox from 1807 to 1907, inclusive, and Rate per 1,000 of Population.”
[4] Number of deaths noted as 492,263 on page xvii.
[5] Duffy, John. 1953. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.