1877 — Smallpox, 7 data points, esp. New Orleans/1.1K; Philadelphia/155; Cincinnati/56   –1,496

Document created by Wayne Blanchard Dec 2012; revised 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019 for website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –1,496  Blanchard tally based on State and/or local breakouts below.

Illinois, Chicago                    (     43)

–43  National Board of Health. Annual Report of the National Board of Health, 1883. P. 134.[1]

Louisiana, New Orleans       (1,100)

–1,100  New Orleans. Louisiana Board of Health. Annual Report…the Year 1877. 1878, p. 11.[2]

Massachusetts                       (     26)

–26. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Vol. CIX, 1883, pp. 498-499.[3]

Michigan                                (   102)

— 102  Michigan Secretary of State. Sixteenth Annual Report…for the Year 1882. p. 269.

New York, New York City   (     14)

–14  Annual Report of Dept. of Health of the City of New York for Years 1911-1912., p. 227.

—  ?  Troy. Cases from rented costumes for masked ball. NYT. “Small-Pox Spread…” 3-7-1877, 3.

Ohio, Cincinnati                   (     56)

–56  Cincinnati. Twitchell. “The Prevention of Smallpox.” Pp. 693-696, Lancet-Clinic, 1906.

–56  Cincinnati. National Board of Health Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 28, 1-7-1882, p. 229.[4]

11 Jan;  8 Feb; 8 March; 11 Apr; 5 May; 7 June; 2 July; 1 Aug; 2 Sep; 1 Oct; –Nov-Dec

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (   155)

–155  City of Philadelphia. Annual Report (Vol. III), 1907, p. 100.[5]

Sources

Board of Health. Annual Report of the Board of Health of the Department of Health of The City of New York for the Year Ending December 31, 1912. NYC: 1913. Google preview accessed 11-26-2019: https://books.google.com/books?id=XqMGqwcyOp8C&ppis=_e&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=1871&f=true

 

Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Vol. CIX, July-December 1883. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1883. Google preview accessed 4-27-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Dp0EAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

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

 

Louisiana Board of Health. Annual Report of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana to the General Assembly for the Year 1877. New Orleans: 1878. Google preview accessed 12-8-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=yPu4PUEDXc4C&ppis=_e&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

 

Michigan Secretary of State. Sixteenth Annual Report Relating to the Registry and Return of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Michigan for the Year 1882. Lansing: W. S. George & Co., State Printers and Binders, 1884. Google digitized. Accessed 10-31-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=X8sWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

National Board of Health. National Board of Health Bulletin. Vol. 3, Nos. 1-52, July 2, 1881-June 30, 1882. Washington, DC. Accessed 2-4-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=jVdNqUEYLOQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

 

New York Times. “Small-Pox Spread at a Masked Ball.” 3-7-1877, p. 3. Accessed 12-8-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1877/03/07/79827366.html?pageNumber=3

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

[1] “Table of mortality from small-pox in the city of Chicago from 1851 to 1882, inclusive.”

[2] “In the present state of medical and sanitary science, this horrible disease is rendered quite preventable under suitable regulations. The fact that New Orleans has not been free from this visitant, which has afflicted twenty-two hundred persons and slain eleven hundred victims during the year now closed, is simply evidence of bad management, and should be considered a disgrace to any community calling itself civilized.”

[3] “Registration Report of Massachusetts for the Year 1882,”

[4] Table: “Mortality from small-pox in Cincinnati, Ohio, 1872-1881.” Did not have numbers for Jan or Feb.

[5] Table entitled “Deaths from Smallpox from 1807 to 1907, inclusive, and Rate per 1,000 of Population.” Notes death rate of 0.17 per 1,000 population, compared to 0.45 the previous year.