1879 — June-May 1880, Measles, esp. MO/666, GA/496, KS/496, IN/493, IL/463, VA/NC –8,254

–8,254 Census. “Table VII. Mortality of the U.S. from Disease…June 1, 1880.” 1885, p. 44.

— 342 AL Census. “Table VII. Mortality…State Groups…Specified Disease.” 1885, pp. 58, 62.
— 0 AZ “ “ p. 66.
— 254 AR “ “ pp. 70, 74.
— 12 CA “ “ pp. 78, 82.
— 60 CO “ “ pp. 86, 90.
— 28 CT “ “ pp. 94, 98.
— 11 DK “ “ pp. 102, 106.
— 1 DE “ “ p. 114.
— 1 DC “ “ p. 118.
— 13 FL “ “ p. 122.
— 496 GA “ “ pp. 126, 130, 134.
— 2 ID “ “ p. 138.
— 463 IL “ “ pp. 142, 146, 150.
— 493 IN “ “ pp. 154, 158, 162.
— 172 IA “ “ pp. 166, 170, 174.
— 496 KS “ “ pp. 178, 182.
— 211 KY “ “ pp. 186, 190, 194, 198.
— 53 LA “ “ pp. 202, 206, 210.
— 36 ME “ “ pp. 214, 218.
— 45 MD “ “ pp. 222, 226.
— 54 MA “ “ pp. 230, 234.
— 236 “ MA Secretary of the Commonwealth. Forty-Seventh Report… 1889, p. 352.
— 190 MI Census. “Table VII. Mortality…State…Specified Disease.” 1885, pp. 235, 242.
— 83 MN “ “ pp. 246, 250, 254.
— 129 MS “ “ pp. 258, 262, 266.
— 666 MO “ “ pp. 270, 274, 278, 282.
— 1 MT “ “ p. 290.
— 106 NE “ “ pp. 294, 298.
— 37 NH “ “ pp. 310, 314.
— 25 NJ “ “ pp. 318, 322.
— 142 NM “ “ pp. 326, 330.
— 239 NY “ “ pp. 334, 338, 342, 346, 350.
— 350 NC “ “ pp. 354, 358, 362.
— 164 OH “ “ pp. 366, 370, 374.
— 16 OR “ “ pp. 378, 382.
— 220 PA “ “ pp. 386, 390.
— 1 RI “ “ p. 394.
— 227 SC “ “ pp. 398, 406.
— 107 TN “ “ pp. 410, 414, 418, 422.
— 261 TX “ “ pp. 426, 430, 434.
— 24 UT “ “ p. 438.
— 49 VT “ “ p. 442.
— 373 VA “ “ pp. 446, 450, 454.
— 11 WA “ “ pp. 458, 462.
— 106 WV “ “ pp. 466, 470.
— 66 WI “ “ pp. 474, 478, 482, 486.
— 2 WY “ “ pp. 490, 494.

Narrative Information

Census Office: “The total number of deaths reported as due to measles during the census year was 8,072, of which 3,980 were of males, and 4,092 of females. In each 100,000 deaths from all causes it caused 1,066 deaths in 1880, 1,876 in 1870, 989 in 1860, and 923 in 1850. In England and Wales, for the 10 years 1870-’79, in each 100,000 deaths from specified causes, it caused 1,700 deaths, and in the year 1880, 2,338 deaths. In each 1,000 deaths from specified causes in the United States during the census year it caused for males 10.69, and for females 11.78. The proportion of deaths per 1,000 of deaths from known causes reported as due to this disease was greater in the rural districts (12.3) than in the cities (7.4), and in those regions where distinctions of white and colored and Irish and German parentage were made the proportions were much greater in the colored (17.7) than in the white (9.1), and greater in the German (8.5) than in the Irish (5.3). The proportionate mortality from this cause was greatest in the Missouri River valley and in the regions of the Western Plains. The mean age at death of those reported as dying of measles during the census year was 7 years.” (U.S. Dept. of Interior, Census Office. Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the [US] as Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880)…Part II. 1886, p. liv.)

Foster: “Measles, contrary to the public idea, is a disease attended by a large mortality. Few diseases show a larger mortality than measles. Not that the deaths per 1,000 cases are as numerous as in smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, etc., but because the public regard it as a non-fatal affection, and make no effort to escape it. As a consequence an epidemic of measles generally attacks an entire community, the people seeming to force their children to take it by exposing them to it, under the idea that children stand the disease better than adults. No greater mistake has ever seen made, for the mortuary statistics of every community demonstrate that but few diseases show a larger number of deaths than measles. The census of 1880 shows that it caused 496 deaths in Georgia. The census of 1890 shows 440 deaths from measles. These figures by no means represent the actual number of deaths from the disease. If the deaths from dropsy, diarrhoea, pneumonia, etc., directly caused by measles were added to the list it would show a mortality fully double that appearing in mortuary statistics as resulting from this malady. When it is remembered that almost the entire mortality from measles is confined to the helpless, innocent children, and that it is a wholly preventable disease, the responsibility for this slaughter of the innocents rests upon parents and the state. This shameful state of affairs will continue until public instruction and sanitary administration puts a stop to it.” (Foster. “Medical History…Epidemics and Endemic Diseases,” p. 105, Chap. V in Memoirs of Georgia…Historical Accounts of the State’s Civil, Military, Industrial and Professional Interests, and Personal Sketches of Many of its People (Vol. II). 1895.)

Sources

Foster, Eugene. “Medical History…Epidemics and Endemic Diseases,” p. 105 (in Chapter V), in Memoirs of Georgia – containing Historical Accounts of the State’s Civil, Military, Industrial and Professional Interests, and Personal Sketches of Many of its People (Vol. II). Atlanta: Southern Historical Association, 1895. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=–8xAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=measles&f=false

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Forty-Seventh Report to the Legislature of Massachusetts Relating to the Registry and Return of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in the Commonwealth for the Year Ending December 31, 1888 (Public Document No. 1). Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1889. Google digitized and accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WS1RAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States Department of the Interior, Census Office. Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States as Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880), Part I. Washington: GPO, 1885. Accessed at: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

United States Department of the Interior, Census Office. Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States as Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880)…Part II. Washington: GPO, 1886, p. liv. Google digitized and accessed at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wfNYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false