–16,388 Census. “Table VII. Mortality of the U.S. from Disease…June 1, 1880.” 1885, p.44.^[1]

— 15 AL Census. “Table VII. Mortality, by State…and Specified Disease.” 1885, pp. 58, 62.

— 3 AZ “ “ p. 66.

— 295 AR “ “ pp. 70, 74.

— 50 CA “ “ pp. 78, 82.

— 34 CO “ “ pp. 86, 90.

— 102 CT “ “ pp. 94, 98.

— 16 DK “ “ pp. 102, 106.

— 9 DE “ “ p. 114.

— 3 DC “ “ p. 118.

— 5 FL “ “ p. 122.

— 31 GA “ “ pp. 126, 130, 134.

— 3 ID “ “ p. 138.

— 954 IL “ “ pp. 142, 146, 150.

–1,212 IN “ “ pp. 154, 158, 162.

— 609 IA “ “ pp. 166, 170, 174.

— 522 KS “ “ pp. 178, 182.

— 354 KY “ “ pp. 186, 190, 194, 198.

— 7 LA “ “ pp. 202, 210.

— 186 ME “ “ pp. 214, 218.

— 154 MD “ “ pp. 222, 226.

— 459 MA “ “ pp. 230, 234.

— 574^[2] “ Sec. of Commonwealth. Thirty-Ninth Report…Year Ending Dec 31, 1880. P. 59.^[3]

— 483 MI Census. “Table VII. Mortality, by State…and Specified Disease.” 1885, p. 235, 242

— 191 MN “ “ pp. 246, 250, 254.

— 6 MS “ “ pp. 258, 262, 266.

— 259 MO “ “ pp. 270, 274, 278, 282.

— 24 MT “ “ p. 290.

— 391 NE “ “ pp. 294, 298, 302.

— 18 NV “ “ p. 306.

— 138 NH “ “ p. 310, 314.

— 311 NJ “ “ pp. 318, 322.

— 118 NM “ “ pp. 326, 330.

–1,019 NY “ “ pp. 334, 338, 342, 346, 350.

— 113 NC “ “ pp. 354, 358, 362.

— 701 OH “ “ pp. 366, 370, 374.

— 47 OR “ “ pp. 378, 382.

–1,795 PA “ “ pp. 386, 390.

–18 Houtzdale, Dec 23. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Vol. XLIV, No. 1, 1-1-1881, 27-28.

–30 “ ~Dec 18-24. Medical and Surgical Reporter. Vol. XLIV, N. 1, 1-1-1881, 27-28.^[4]

— 160 RI Census. “Table VII. Mortality, by State…and Specified Disease.” 1885, p. 394.

— 18 SC “ “ pp. 398, 402, 406.

— 80 TN “ “ pp. 410, 414, 418, 422.

— 83 TX “ “ pp. 426, 430, 434.

— 25 UT “ “ p. 438.

— 65 VT “ “ p. 442.

— 257 VA “ “ pp. 446, 450, 454.

— 15 WA “ “ pp. 458, 462.

— 227 WV “ “ pp. 466, 470.

— 432 WI “ “ pp. 474, 478, 482, 486.

— 37 WY “ “ pp. 490, 494.

Narrative Information

Census Office: “The total number of deaths reported as due to scarlet fever during the census year was 16,388, of which 8,181 were males and 8,207 females. The number of deaths from this cause in each 100,000 deaths from all causes was 2,165, or a little over one half that for 1870, namely, 4,128 [20,339 scarlet fever deaths], and less than one-third of what it was in 1860, viz. 6,698 [26,402 scarlet fever deaths]. In England and Wales for the ten years 1870-´79 the proportion was 3,674; in 1880, 3,300. The mean age at death of those reported as dying of scarlet fever during the census year was 5. Scarlet fever is especially a disease of infancy and childhood….

“Scarlet fever caused a greater proportion of deaths in the large cities (26.7) than in the rest of the country (21.6); and in those parts of the country in which the distinctions of color and of parentage were made, it caused a much greater proportion of the deaths among the whites (20.9) than among the colored (3.9), and greater among the Germans (30.1) than among the Irish (24.0), or than among the rest of the white population. The influence of the large cities in causing a greater mortality from this disease is most marked between the ages of 5 and 15. The proportionate mortality under 5 years is greatest for children of Irish parentage….

“It appears that during the census year scarlet fever was most prevalent in the northern part of the United States, and especially on the North Atlantic coast, the interior of New York and Pennsylvania, the lake coast, the Ohio valley, the northern part of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, the western part of Montana, and the coast region of Oregon. The mortality from this disease was very low in the southern states with the exception of that part of Arkansas lying on the Mississippi river, but this may be due to a great extent to the large proportion of colored population in this region, a class in which the mortality from this disease appears to be very low.

“Although the whole history of scarlet fever in the United States indicates that the disease has always been much rarer in the south than in the north, and the contrast between these two regions was, if any thing, even more marked at the census of 1870 than at that of 1880, it is not to be explained on the ground that scarlet fever can not prevail in warm climates, although the fact that the larger parts of Asia and Africa are comparatively free from this disease, taken in connection with its distribution in the United States, would at first sight seem to warrant some such conclusion. Dr. Hirsch points out, however, that scarlet fever has often been epidemic in the tropical countries of South America, and also that in many cases in temperate latitudes it is among the rarest of diseases. Nor does its diffusion seem to be directly influenced by the season or weather, the elevation of the locality, the geological or physical characters of the soil, or by the cleanliness of the locality. When the disease has once become established in a place it is very apt to recur in cycles of five or six years, due probably to the accumulation within that period of a sufficient number of persons susceptible to the influence of its causes to produce an epidemic. We have no reason to suppose that it is propagated in any other way than by the transmission of particles of matter from a person suffering from the disease. Its contagium has an extremely persistent vitality, and may linger among articles of clothing or bedding for a number of years with its powers but little if any impaired.

“….the greatest mortality from this cause was in the winter months, and next to these in May, June, and July, and that it was least in August, September, October, March, and April.” (U.S. 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. 1886, p. xxix-xxxii.)

Pennsylvania

Cushing: “During the epidemic of scarlet fever which prevailed here in 1880 they [Newton family] lost their first three children…” (Cushing. A Genealogical and Biographical History of Allegheny County, [PA]. Excerpted from Part II of History of Allegheny County, [PA]. 1975, 467.)

Dec 23: “The Pittsburg Evening Telegram, December 24^th, says: this will be a sad and mournful Christmas for the little town of Houtzdale, Clearfield Co., in this State. That fearful scourge, scarlet fever, is rapidly thinning and desolating every household in the place. Eighteen children died yesterday from this terrible disease, and this morning many new cases are reported, It is but a few days since the first case was made known, and already thirty deaths have resulted from the fatal fever. Physicians have been summoned from all the neighboring towns, as the doctors here were all overworked and could not possibly attend to all the demands made upon them. There is scarcely a family in the town that is not plunged into deepest grief over the untimely taking away of their beloved little pets – scarcely a hearthstone in the place that has not been desolated.” (Medical and Surgical Reporter: A Weekly Journal (D. G. Brinton, M.D., ed.). “Scarlet Fever in Western Pennsylvania.” Vol. XLIV, No. 1, 1-1-1881, Philadelphia, pp. 27-28.)

Dec 23: “Diphtheria and scarlet fever have again made their appearance at Waynesboro, and of such an extent that the physicians of the town held a meeting and passed a series of resolutions instructing the School Board, Town Council and citizens as to the best means to be adopted to prevent the spread of the diseases.” (The Star and Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Local Items,” 12-23-1880, p. 3.)

Dec 30: “Eighteen deaths are reported to have occurred from scarlet fever in one day lately at Houtzdale.”^[5] (Indiana Democrat, Indiana, PA. “Local and Variety.” 12-30-1880, p. 3.)

Sources

Cushing, Thomas (ed.). A Genealogical and Biographical History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Excerpted from Part II of History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; re-titled and reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1975, p. 467. Google digitized preview:

http://books.google.com/books?id=4IDdaF-3HBsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Indiana Democrat, Indiana, PA. “Local and Variety.” 12-30-1880, p. 3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Thirty-Ninth 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, 1880 (Public Document No. 1). Boston: Rand, Aberg & Co., Printers to the Commonwealth, 1881. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=aTgWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Medical and Surgical Reporter: A Weekly Journal (D. G. Brinton, M.D., ed.). “Scarlet Fever in Western Pennsylvania.” Vol. XLIV, No. 1, 1-1-1881, Philadelphia, pp. 27-28. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=6hECAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Star and Sentinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Local Items,” 12-23-1880, p. 3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=2859812&sterm=scarlet+fever

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. xxix-xxxii. Google digitized and accessed at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=wfNYAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] “Table VII. Mortality of the United States and of Each State Group, From Each Specified Disease and Class of Diseases, with Distinction of Age and Sex, During the Census Year Ending June 1, 1880.” In: US Dept. of 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. Also pp. xxix and xxxi in: U.S. Census Office, Department of the Interior. Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States as Returned at the Tenth Census (June 1, 1880)…Part II. 1886.

[2] The Census figures were for a time-frame ending June 1, 1880.

[3] Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. Thirty-Ninth Report to the Legislature of [MA] Relating to the Registry and Return of…Deaths… for the Year Ending December 31, 1880. 1881.

[4] This is our estimate of the time range. The Dec 24 article notes that 18 children died of scarlet fever on Dec 23 and that 30 had died since the beginning of the outbreak, which had only been “a few days” previous.

[5] Borough in Clearfield County

1879 — June-May 1880, Scarlet Fever, esp. PA/1.8K, IN/1.2K, NY/1K, IA/609, KS/522–16,388