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1767 — July, Chippewa attack two Baynton, Wharton, Morgan trade boats, Ohio River– 14

–14  Dunn. People of the American Frontier, 2005, pp. 39-40.

–14  Volwiler. George Croghan and the Westward Movement 1741-1782. 1926 and 1971, p. 217

 

Compiled 2-1-2019 by B. Wayne Blanchard for: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com

 

Narrative Information

 

Dunn: “Further disaster befell Baynton and Wharton in July 1767 when the Chippewas attacked two boats on the Ohio River, murdered fourteen men, and stole merchandise worth £3,000 Pennsylvania ($345,000) owned by the trading company.” (Dunn. People of the American Frontier, pp. 39-40.)

 

Volwiler: “The most prominent Indian aggression[1] was the attack on two batteaux[2] on the Ohio River belonging to Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan[3] causing a loss of fourteen men and goods valued at £3,000,” (Volwiler. George Croghan and the Westward Movement 1741-1782. p. 217.)

 

Sources

 

Dunn, Walter S. Dunn Jr. People of the American Frontier: The Coming of the American Revolution. Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 2005. Accessed 2-1-2019 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/People_of_the_American_Frontier/2JRF5E_dMeoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Baynton+wharton+morgan+Ohio+River++fourteen+men+Killed+1767&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover

 

Turner, Morris K. “The Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan Manuscripts.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 3, Dec 1922, pp. 236-241. Accessed 2-1-2019 at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1895979?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

 

Volwiler, Albert T. George Croghan and the Westward Movement 1741-1782. Cleveland: 1926; and New York, AMS Press Inc. reprint, 1971,

 

[1] Post French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion era and prior to the American Revolution.

[2] Flat-bottomed, shallow-draft boat used frequently for trade.

[3] Philadelphia based business, “one of the earliest first to open up the western trade and was the first to extend its connections as far as the Illinois. Besides its trading interests, the partners entered largely into western land speculation. They were the chief promoters of the Indiana company which was formed of merchants who suffered losses at the Outbreak of Pontiac’s conspiracy and claimed, as compensation from the Indians, lands situated in modern West Virginia. The firm was also the backbone of a company that planned the establishment of a company in Illinois.” (Alford and Carter, in Morris K. Turner. “The Baynton, Wharton, and Morgan Manuscripts.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 3, Dec 1922, p. 236.)

1767-70 — Diphtheria epidemic (12% of population, mostly children), Oxford, MA –96-144

—     144  Corbly. The Last Colonials. 2009, p. 147.

—     144  Grob. The Deadly Truth: A History of Disease in America. 2002, p. 83.[1]

–96-144  Blanchard.[2]

—       96  Vital Records of Oxford, Massachusetts, To the end of the year 1849. 1905.

—       54  Caulfield. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions, p.23, fn. 53.[3]

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield[4]:

–3  Ballard family.                 Vital Records of Oxford, p. 268.[5]

–2  Barton family.                  Vital Records of Oxford, p. 269.

–2  Bogle family.                    Vital Records of Oxford, p. 270.

–2  Campbell family.              Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 272-273.

–2  Claflin family.                  Vital Records of Oxford, p. 274.

–2  Eddy family.                    Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 280-281.

–3  Fuller family.                    Vital Records of Oxford, p. 282.

–5  Harris family.                   Vital Records of Oxford, p. 284-285.

–3  Hudson, Benjamin fam.   Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 287-288.

–4  Hudson, Joseph family.    Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 287-288.

–2  Humphrey family.            Vital Records of Oxford, p. 288.

–4  Lamb family.                    Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 290-291.

–3  Learned family.                Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 292-293.

–7  Moore family.                   Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 297-298.

–2  Phillips family.                 Vital Records of Oxford, p. p. 301.

–2  Pratt family.                      Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 302-303.

–4  Shumway family.             Vital Records of Oxford, pp. 306-307.

–2  Watson family.                 Vital Records of Oxford, p. 313.

 

Corbly: “Between 1767 and 1770 nearby Oxford, Massachusetts, lost 12 percent of its population in the worst diphtheria epidemic in New England’s history; 144 persons died, mostly children between the ages of two to 14. Martha’s uncle and aunt buried eight of their 11 children. Martha and her husband, Ephraim, lost three girls of their six children in less than ten days.”[6] (Corbly. The Last Colonials. 2009, pp. 147-148.)

 

Vital Records of Oxford:      [Note: we have omitted a number of deaths in 40s or more.]

  1. John Amidown           March 30, 1768             1 year Son of Noah and Abigail, p. 267.
  2. Noah Amidown          Nov 9, 1769                27 yrs                                            p. 267.
  3. Doroty Ballard            July 1, 1769                  3 yrs  Daughter, Ephraim and Martha. 268.
  4. Eunice Ballard            April 12, 1769 or 70     1 yr    Daughter of John and Mary.   p. 268.
  5. Martha Ballard            July 5, 1769                  9 yrs  Daughter, Ephraim and Martha. 268.
  6. Mary Ballard               March 16, 1770           32 yrs  Wife of Ephraim.                    p. 268.
  7. Triphena Ballard         June 26, 1769                5 yrs  Daughter, Ephraim and Martha. 268.
  8. Abraham Barton         Nov 28, 1768  age not noted  Son of Isaac and Sarah            p. 269.
  9. Elijah Moore Barton   June 13, 1769                4 yrs  Son of Stephen and Dorothy  p. 269.
  10. Gideon Barton            Oct 17, 1770                 4 yrs  Son of Stephen and Dorothy  p. 269.
  11. Isaac Barton                Dec 24, 1768   age not noted  Son of Isaac and Sarah            p. 269.
  12. Isaac Barton                Oct 9, 1769                 30 yrs                                                  p. 269.
  13. Nathan Barton             Nov 27, 1768                4 yrs  Son of Nathan and Tamer       p. 269.
  14. Elizabeth Bogle          Feb 27, 1768  age not noted  Daughter of John and Mary    p. 270.
  15. Esther Bogle               March 3, 1768 age not noted Daughter of John and Mary    p. 270.
  16. John Bogle                  July 7, 1767    age not noted   Son of John and Mary             p. 270.
  17. Sarah Brown               June 24, 1768 age not noted  Daughter of James and Mary  p. 271.
  18. Sarah Campbell           Oct 11, 1768   age not noted Daughter of William & Mary p. 273.
  19. William Campbell       Oct 6, 1768     age not noted  Son of William and Mary       p. 273.
  20. Elizabeth Child           June 21, 1767  age not noted  Daughter of Nathaniel & Abigail 273.
  21. Joshua Claflin             Oct 5, 1767     age not noted  Son of Abner and Hannah      p. 274.
  22. Sarah Claflin               Oct 2, 1767     age not noted  Son of Abner and Hannah      p. 274.
  23. Ruth Conant                Sep 8, 1767                   2 yrs  Daughter of Ezra and Ruth     p. 275.
  24. Dorothy Davis             Oct 31, 1767   age not noted  Daughter of Elisha and Mary  p. 277.
  25. Ruth Davis                  Apr 26, 1767   age not noted  Wife of Capt. Samuel Davis   p. 278.
  26. Enoch Eddy                May 9, 1768                20 yrs  Son of Ebenezer and Ruth      p. 280.
  27. Lucy Eddy                  Jan 15, 1769                  3 yrs  Daughter of Thomas & Hannah 280.
  28. Sarah Eddy                 Nov 30, 1769                4 yrs  Daughter of William & Sarah     281.
  29. William Eddy             Dec 1, 1769                   9 yrs  Son of William and Sarah       p. 281.
  30. Hannah Fuller             Sep 21, 1768   age not noted  Daughter of Jonathan & Mary p.282.
  31. Jonathan Fuller            Jan 26, 1769    age not noted
  32. Mary Fuller                 Sep 21, 1768   age not noted
  33. William Fuller             Sep 2, 1768     age not noted  Son of Jonathan and Mary      p. 282.
  34. Abijah Harris              July 28, 1769?               8 yrs  Son of Samuel and Margarit   p. 284.
  35. Asa Harris                   March 30, 1769           13 yrs  Son of Samuel and Margarit   p. 284.
  36. Mary Harris                 July 18, 1769                3 yrs  Daughter of Samuel & Margarit 285.
  37. Moses Harris               May 25, 1769              12 yrs  Son of Samuel and Margarit   p. 285.
  38. Timothy Harris            Apr 29, 1769                 6 yrs  Son of Samuel and Margarit   p. 285.
  39. Daniel Hovey              Nov 1768        age not noted  Son of Daniel and Content     p. 286.
  40. Benjamin Hudson       Sep 1, 1768     age not noted  Son of Benjamin and Sarah    p. 287.
  41. David Hudson             Aug 5, 1768    age not noted  Son of Joseph and Mehetable p. 287.
  42. Dorcas Hudson           Jan 14, 1767    age not noted  Son of John and Thamazin      p. 287.
  43. Hannah Hudson          Nov 8, 1768    age not noted  Daughter of Benjamin & Sarah p.287.
  44. John Hudson               July 18, 1768  age not noted  Son of Joseph and Mehetable p. 287.
  45. Joseph Hudson           Aug 4, 1768    age not noted  Son of Joseph and Mehetable p. 287.
  46. Mary Hudson              Oct 18, 1768   age not noted  Daughter of Benjamin & Sarah p287.
  47. Mercy Hudson            July 10, 1768  age not noted  Daughter, Joseph & Mehetable p.287.
  48. Phebe Hudson             Apr 7, 1768     age not noted  Daughter, Joseph & Mehetable p.287.
  49. Jemima Humphery      July 17, 1769                8 yrs  Daughter of Arthur and Mary p. 288.
  50. John Humphery           July 18, 1769              10 yrs  Son of Arthur and Mary          p. 288.
  51. Peter Humphery          June 11, 1769                8 yrs  Son of Ebenezer and Ruth      p. 288.
  52. Mary Humphrey         June 11, 1769                7 yrs  Daughter of Ebenezer & Ruth p.288.
  53. Abiel Lamb                 Apr 13, 1769               10 yrs  Son of Abiel and Abigail        p. 290.
  54. Ama Lamb                  Jan 16, 1769                  3 yrs  Daughter, Reuben & Rebeckah p.291.
  55. Edmund Lamb            Apr 9, 1769                   8 yrs  Son of Abiel and Abigail        p. 291.
  56. Lydia Lamb                 Apr 8, 1769                   6 yrs  Daughter of Abiel & Abigail  p. 291.
  57. Zeruiah Lamb             Feb 17, 1769   no age noted   Daughter of Abiel & Abigail  p. 291.
  58. Abigail Learned          Jan 30, 1767    no age noted   Daughter of Isaac & Elizabeth p.292.
  59. Ebenezer Learned       Dec 16, 1769                 1 yr    Son of Jeremiah & Elizabeth    p.292.
  60. Ruth Learned              Dec 4, 1768                   6 yrs  Daughter, Samuel & Mehetabel p293.
  61. Samuel Learned          Jan 2, 1769                    5 yrs  Son of Samuel and Mehetabel p.293.
  62. Susannah Learned       Dec 8, 1768                   3 yrs  Daughter, Samuel & Mehetabel p293.
  63. Abigail Meriam           Nov 28, 1768              28 yrs  Wife of Joshua Jr.                   p. 295.
  64. Mary Meriam              Nov 24, 1768  no age noted   Daughter of Joshua & Susannah 296.
  65. Ebenezer Moore          July 14, 1769                3 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 297.
  66. Edward Moore            July 23, 1769              10 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 297.
  67. John Moore                 July 8, 1769                12 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 298.
  68. Lemuel Moore            Sep 22, 1769               26 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 298.
  69. Mary Moore                Dec 29, 1768               13 yrs  Daughter of Richard & Mary  p. 298.
  70. Nehemiah Moore        July 24, 1769              16 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 298.
  71. Richard Moore            Aug 6, 1769                  8 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 298.
  72. Rufus Moore               July 31, 1769                6 yrs  Son of Richard and Mary        p. 298.
  73. Samuel Nickols           Nov 24, 1768              12 yrs  Son of William and Mary       p. 300.
  74. John Phillips                Jan 11, 1767    no age noted   Son of Joseph and Lydia        p. 301.
  75. Jonathan Phillips         Dec 1, 1768                   1 yr    Son of Jonathan and Sarah      p. 301.
  76. Sarah Phillips              Dec 1, 1768                   3 yrs  Daughter of Jonathan & Sarah p.301.
  77. Abigail            Pierce             Nov 1, 1768                27 yrs  Wife of Jacob Pierce               p. 302.
  78. Abraham Pratt            Nov 7, 1768    no age noted   Son of Abraham and Mary     p. 302.
  79. Lydia Pratt                  July 8, 1768    no age noted   Daughter of Elias and Lydia   p. 303.
  80. Mary Pratt                   Sep 4, 1769                 23 yrs Wife of Joseph Pratt                p. 303.
  81. Mary Pratt                   Sep 2, 1770                   2 yrs  Daughter of Nathan & Mary   p. 303.
  82. Ruth Pratt                    Oct 25, 1768   no age noted   Daughter of Abraham & Mary p.303.
  83. Abigail Shumway       Nov 29, 1770                3 yrs  Daughter of Jeremiah & Abigail 306.
  84. Henry Shumway         Oct 1, 1769                   5 yrs  Son of Jeremiah and Abigail   p. 306.
  85. Pearly Shumway         Apr 29, 1769                 9 yrs  Son of Jeremiah and Abigail   p. 307.
  86. William Shumway      Oct 6, 1769                   4 yrs  Son of Jeremiah and Abigail   p. 307.
  87. Anna Stone                 June 15, 1768  no age noted   Daughter of Uriah and Mary  p. 309.
  88. Elizabeth Stone           June 21, 1768                1 yr    Daughter of Jesse & Elizabeth p.309.
  89. Daniel Town               Aug 20, 1769  no age noted   Son of Isaac and Huldah         p. 310.
  90. Rachel Town               March 16, 1768           26 yrs                                                  p. 311.
  91. Sarah Town                 May 28, 1769              12 yrs  Daughter of Moses and Bithiah  311.
  92. John Watson               Oct 25, 1768                 7 yrs  Son of William and Mary       p. 313.
  93. Mary Watson              Apr 14, 1767               10 yrs  Daughter of William & Mary p. 313.
  94. Samuel Watson           June 17, 1768  no age noted   Son of William and Mary       p. 313.
  95. Sarah Watson              June 8, 1767                  9 yrs  Daughter of William & Mary p. 313.
  96. William Wolcott.        Nov 8, 1769                  3 yrs  Son of Josiah and Isabella       p. 314.

 

Sources

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, pp. 4-65. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/865

 

Corbly, Don. The Last Colonials. Self-published, 2009. Google preview accessed 3-1-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=YOzaAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Grob, Gerald N. The Deadly Truth: A History of Disease in America. Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard University Press, 2002. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=U1H5rq3IQUAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Vital Records of Oxford, Massachusetts, To the end of the year 1849. Worcester, MA: Franklin P. Rice, 1905. Google preview accessed 2-11-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZHpA9d4aVMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites: Ernest Caulfield. A True History of the Terrible Epidemic Vulgarly Called the Throat Distemper (New Haven: Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 1939, pp. 99-113); Ernest Caulfield, “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children” (Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, 1951, pp. 15-24); John Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America (LSU Press, 1953, pp. 123-129).

[2] We have gone through the Vital Records of Oxford (“Deaths” section) and have listed 96 deaths (though none of these listings included a cause of death). We did omit to note a handful of deaths of people over 30, in that this was primarily a children’s disease. It is possible that the number of 144 deaths actually refers to a broader area than Oxford itself. Diphtheria is a contagious disease, and if it was killing children there in multiple years it is not unlikely that children in other nearby localities would have caught the disease and died as well.

[3] It should be noted that Caulfield only notes instances wherein two or more children within a family died.

[4] Cites Essex Gazette, October 17, 1769 and January 9, 1770 and then a number of pages in Oxford Vital Records.

[5] It should be noted that these deaths, attributed to diphtheria by Caulfield, while listed in Oxford Vital Records, does not note cause of death. It appears to us to be a very reasonable presumption that these were diphtheria deaths.

[6] Martha and Ephraim Ballard lived in Bowman’s Brook, MA. She left a diary from which Corbly derives the losses in her family. No source cited for death toll of 144, but it would appear to be Caulfield and or Duffy.

1764 — Jan 20-30, “Nervous Pleuritic Disorder” (respiratory infection), Newport, RI– 14

–14  Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1979 edition, p. 199.

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield: “There was…an occasional localized outbreak of probable influenza such as the fairly severe one in Newport during January, 1764, which Ezra Stiles called ‘a nervous pleuratic disorder.’”  (“The Pursuit of a Pestilence.”)

 

Duffy: “In the latter part of January, 1764, Newport, Rhode Island was affected by some sort of respiratory infection that continued ‘from January 20 to 30 inclusive 1764…;’ during this period ’14 persons {died}, of which 6 were buried Feb/ry 1. A nervous pleuritic Disorder being epidemic.’[1] The account gives no indication of the exact nature of the infection nor of the case mortality, although the use of the adjective ‘nervous’ may point to influenza.” (Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1979 edition, p. 199.)

 

Sources

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 1950, pp. 21-52. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807204.pdf

 

Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites, in footnote 32, page 199: “Births and Deaths in Newport, R.I., 1760-1764,” LXIII (1909), p. 51.

1764-65 — Smallpox, esp. Iroquois, Shawnee, Lenape, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw >1,800

—   300  Chickasaw.    John Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953 and 1979, p. 98.

–1,500  Choctaw.       John Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953 and 1979, p. 98.

—       ?  Creek.                        John Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953 and 1979, p. 98.

—       ?  Iroquois.        Mann. The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Frontier… 2009, p. 18.

—       ?  Lenape.          Mann. The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Frontier… 2009, p. 18.

—       ?  Shawnee.       John Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953 and 1979, p. 98.

 

Narrative Information

 

Duffy: “The years 1764-65 saw smallpox flaring up sporadically among the Indians from South Carolina to New York. On July 30, 1764, the New York Mercury stated that ‘Smallpox has gone among the Creek Indians & carried off great Nos. of them.’ The following spring [1765] the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that fifteen hundred Choctaws and three hundred Chickasaws had died from the infection. Cornelius Bennett, an S.P.G.[1] missionary among the Indians in the vicinity of Mohawk Castle,[2] explained to the Society that the dangers from smallpox had compelled him to return to Boston….In January, 1765, smallpox was reported among the ‘Shawnese’[3] Indians.”[4] Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America, 1953, reprinted 1979, p. 98.).

 

Mann: “Over the summer of 1764, the contagion spread like wildfire among the Iroquois and Shawnees, also moving south to the Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Muskogees [Creek]. On September 1764, Colonel Andrew Lewis of Virginia gave Bouquet[5] ‘certain Intiligance’ [sic] that those ‘poor Rascals’ — the Shawnees and Lenapes[6] — were ‘dieing very fast with the smallpox.’ On January 25, 1765, a New York report documented smallpox among the Shawnees, whose clans lived not only in Ohio, but also in nearby Tennessee and Pennsylvania, as well as in South Carolina and Missouri, which helps to explain the southern spread of this induced[7] epidemic….” (Mann. The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Frontier Expansion. 2009, p. 18.)

 

Sources

 

Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.

 

Heagerty, John J. Four Centuries of Medical History in Canada (Vol. I). Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014. Accessed 3-29-2018 at: https://ia802507.us.archive.org/25/items/fourcenturiesofm00heag_0/fourcenturiesofm00heag_0.pdf

 

Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. “About Us.” Accessed 3-29-2018 at: http://nanticoke-lenapetribalnation.org/about/

 

Mann, Barbara Alice. The Tainted Gift: The Disease Method of Frontier Expansion. Santa Barbara, CA, Denver, CO, Oxford, UK: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Google preview accessed 3-29-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=vJcJmx8R8XIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[1] Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

[2] Herkimer County, NY, today known as the Mohawk Upper Castle Historic District.

[3] Heagerty writes that: “This tribe lived in the neighbourhood of South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Missouri.” (p. 43).

[4] Cites, in footnote 56, New York Mercury, No. 666, July 30, 1764; Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1901, May 30, 1765; Cornelius Bennett to Secretary, Boston, September 12, 1765, in S.P.G. MSS., B22, fpp. 130-31l; Heagerty, Four Centuries of Medical History, I, 43.

[5] Colonel Henry Bouquet, British Army, which, along with colonists, was at war with Natives in “Pontiac’s War.”

[6] The Lenni-Lenape originated in the greater Delaware Bay area. On the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation website it is written “We are made up of the American Indian families from southern New Jersey and the Delmarva Peninsula who remained in out ancestral homeland after many of our relations were removed to the west and to the north as far as Oklahoma and Canada.”

[7] Reference to reporting that British General Jeffrey Amherst had ordered that smallpox-infected blankets be given to Native Americans.

1764 — “Throat Distemper” (Diphtheria), especially children, Westminster, MA — 15

Westminster   (15)

–2  Bemis Family.      Vital Records of Westminster, p. 213; in Caulfield 1942, p.23, footnote 52.

–4  Calf family.          Vital Records of Westminster, p. 216; in Caulfield 1942, p.23, footnote 52.

–2  Hoar family.         Vital Records of Westminster, p. 229; in Caulfield 1942, p.23, footnote 52.

–3  Steadman family. Vital Records of Westminster, p. 249; in Caulfield 1942, p.23, footnote 52.

–4  Whitney family.   Vital Records of Westminster, p. 253; in Caulfield 1942, p.23, footnote 52.

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield: “Though the disease [diphtheria section of paper] in eastern Massachusetts seems to have quieted down considerably after the seventeen-sixties, it continued its periodic outbreaks in the small towns of the north-central section. An epidemic in Westminister in 1764 was followed by another in Athol in 1776 and another more severe one in Princeton and surrounding towns in Worcester County during 1786.” (“Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, p. 23.)

 

Source

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, pp. 4-65. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/865

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1763 — Winter, Throat Distemper Epidemic (Diphtheria), Philadelphia, PA — >10

—>10  Blanchard, based on Rush noting that “many children” died of malignant sore throat.[1]

 

Narrative Information

 

Duffy: “Philadelphia, which had remained relatively free of the infection [throat distemper][2] for a number of years, experienced a large-scale epidemic in 1763 — the first major outbreak in the colonies since 1755. The observer, Benjamin Rush, a competent eighteenth-century medical practitioner, stated that a ‘malignant sore-throat’ carried off many children in the winter of 1763.”[3] (Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953, reprinted 1979, p. 127.)

 

Schultz: “Diphtheria. Known by a host of other names, including quinsy, bladders of the windpipe, throat distemper, and putrid sore throat, diphtheria was recognized as a plague among the children. It was more often reported among the New England colonies than the middle or southern, but two epidemics appear to have struck Philadelphia in 1746 and 1763….” (Schultz. “Epidemics in Colonial Philadelphia…1699-1799…” Early America Review, Wtr./Spring 2007.)

 

Sources

 

Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.

 

Schultz, Suzanne M. “Epidemics in Colonial Philadelphia from 1699-1799 and The Risk of Dying.” Early America Review, Winter/Spring 2007. Accessed 1-9-2018 at:  https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-11/early-american-epidemics

Also at: http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2007_winter_spring/epidemics.html

 

 

 

 

 

[1] We have found no numbers, data or statistics. In other diphtheria epidemics elsewhere, even in villages and small towns, diphtheria epidemics would kill many more than ten children. Philadelphia was no small town. Thus, in order to recognize that there was an epidemic and to contribute to a tally, we assume at least ten lives deaths.

[2] Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever chapter in Duffy’s book.

[3] Cites, in footnote 27: Rush. Medical Inquiries, 2d ed., IV, 372.

1763 – Aug-Feb 1774, Yellow Fever, Natives, Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard Islands, MA-200-261

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-24-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 261  Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor Andrew Oliver in Pelrine, 1991.

— 259  Keating 1879, 78; U.S. Marine-Hospital Service.  Annual Report…1895.  1896, 430.[1]

— 200  New York Times, “Yellow Fever Retrospect,” 7 Oct 1888.

Martha’s Vineyard, Dec start

—  39  Pelrine. “The Indian Sickness in the Town of Miacomet.” Historic Nantucket 39/4, 1991.

Nantucket Island, Aug-Feb 20

— 222  Pelrine. “The Indian Sickness in the Town of Miacomet.” Historic Nantucket 39/4, 1991.

 

Narrative Information

 

Pelrine:  “In October 1764 Governor Andrew Oliver of the Massachusetts Bay Colony wrote from Boston to Israel Mauduit, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who was then in London as the Agent for the Commonwealth:

 

“Considering your connexions, both as a member of the Royal Society, and of the Society for propagating the gospel among the Indians, I transmit you an account of an uncommon sickness, which prevailed last year at the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard which lie about six or seven leagues distant from the Indian plantation of Mashpee on the Continent, where it did not make its appearance at all. I had my account from the English minister, and from the physician Dr. Benjamin Tupper at Nantucket, and from the society’s missionary at the Vineyard, of each of whom I made the most scrupulous inquiry, you may depend on the truth of it.

 

“About the beginning of August, 1763, when the sickness began at Nantucket, the whole number of Indians belonging to that [island] was 358: of these, 258 had the distemper betwixt that time and the 20th of February following, 36 only of whom recovered: of the 100 who escaped the distemper, 34 were conversant with the sick, eight dwelt separate, 18 were at sea, and 40 lived in English families. The physician informs me, that the blood and juices appeared to be highly putrid, and that the disease was attended with a violent inflammatory fever, which carried them of fin [?] about five days. The season was uncommonly moist and cold, and the distemper began originally among them; but having once made its appearance seems to have been propagated by contagion; although some escaped it, who were exposed to the infection. The distemper made its appearance at Martha’s Vineyard the beginning of December, 1763. It went through every family, into which it came, not one escaping: fifty-two Indians had it, 39 of whom died; those, who recovered, were chiefly of the younger sort.

 

“The appearance of the distemper was much the same in both islands; it carried them off in each, in five or six days. What is still more remarkable than even the great mortality of the distemper is, that not one English person had it in either of the islands, although the English greatly exceed in numbers; and that some persons in one family who were of mixt breed, half Dutch and half Indian, and one in another family, half Indian and half Negro, had the distemper, and all recovered; and that no person at all died of it, but such as were intirely of Indian blood. From hence it was called the Indian Sickness.

 

“There had been a great scarcity of corn among the Indians the preceding winter: This, together with the cold moist season, have been assigned by some as the causes of the distemper among them. These circumstances, it is true, may have disposed them, to a morbid habit, but do not account for its peculiarity to the Indians: The English breathed the same air, and suffered in some measure in the scarcity, with the Indians; they yet escaped the sickness.”

 

“Governor Oliver thus documents both the immunity of the English and Black inhabitants and the susceptibility of the Native Americans to the contagious “distemper” without understanding either. Nor does he indicate how the disease started on Nantucket.

 

“This and other details were provided some thirty years later by Richard Mitchell and related in the correspondence of Christopher Starbuck and historian Zaccheus Macy with Moses Brown of Providence, Rhode Island. Brown was a very successful Quaker merchant with Nantucket interests. In 1797 he wanted to learn more about yellow fever and hoped to show it was not necessary to quarantine ships from the West Indies to control this disease.  Macy, who resided on Nantucket and was noted for his skill in surgery and bonesetting and for his medical knowledge, wrote:

 

“In the eighth or beginning of 9. mo, 1763, this uncommon mortality here among the Indians began (as near as I can find by enquiry of Richard Mitchell & some other), a brig from Ireland, having a number of passengers on [board], were cast away near Long Hill upon the North side of this Island. Some few days afterward two women were found in the surf who died on board the vessel & were thrown into the Sea & so drove on shore. Soon after it was discovered many were sick on board with what is called the Yellow Fever and some of the crew, having their cloaths washed at a home here by an Indian woman, it was thought occasioned the spreading of ye disease, as this Indian woman was, soon after washing their cloaths, taken sick with the same yellow fever (which was prevalent on board this Brig or snow) & died in a few days among the Indians….

 

[From this the sickness spread and continued] “till near the middle of the winter or beginning of the 2nd month, notwithstanding the time and the inclemency of the weather…. What seems most observable in this sickness, then among the Indians, no Negro or white person took the distemper, although some white people frequently assisted them, and came among them. In particular Richard Mitchell tells me he went several times into their homes to help them to some necessaries; also, there was 2 or 3 of the surviving Indians continually among them in helping bury the dead & yet they escaped the sickness.

 

“The manner in which they were taken or seized with this disorder was by complaining of much pain and a high fever & then soon appear yellow, some dying in two, some in three or four days, seldom any living more than four or five days. After they were taken sick, there were some instances when the whole number in the house were sick at one time, and all found dead in the house at one time. As they had scarcely any well persons sufficient to bury the dead among them — they would sometimes dig a hole near the
house or wigwam door, and so pull the dead ones out and cover them up without putting the copse [sic] into any coffin. Then they would set fire to the wigwam to burn up all that was left in the house.”

 

In 1797 Moses Brown learned further from Christopher Starbuck that:

 

“…the sickness began 16 of 8th month, 1763 & continued until the beginning of 2 mo., 1764, in which time 222 died with the yellow fever, as it was called. 34 that were sick recovered; 36 lived among them & did not have the sickness; 18 were at sea, a whaling, in Canada River, etc.; 40 lived in town among the English & none had the disease; 8 lived at the west end of the Island & none had the disease…. This mortality among them in 1763 was very great indeed; out of 358 that had ye sickness 222 died.”

 

“On January 1, 1798, Starbuck again wrote to Moses Brown:

 

“I am not able to procure any knowledge of what part of Ireland that vessel was from which we suppose brought the sickness, or whether the sickness was brought over in her, or whether took its rise on board after she left Ireland. The vessel, I believe, made no tarry here, &r did not come into the harbor, but soon got off again after being on shore (and sailed for New York, the port to which she was bound). All the knowledge I can procure about, partly by memory & by enquiry of Richard Mitchell (who seems to know the most of anybody about it) is as I mentioned in my last to thee that is, it was thought the sickness spread from the washing of some of the people’s cloaths here.

 

“The cloaths were washed by an Indian woman [Mary Norquarta], at the house of Joseph Quin [located near the corner of York and Pleasant streets (not far from the town of Miacomet)], about 1/4 of a mile or less to the south and eastward of the easternmost windmill. The wife of this Joseph Quin, named Molly Quin also had the sickness very severe & was very yellow with it, but recovered, and I believe is yet living.

 

“The Indian woman, as before mentioned, when first taken sick or soon after, was removed among the Indians further south to a place called by the Indians Miacomet, where she died. Most, if not all in that Indian town where she died were soon taken sick and died also. From there it spread among all the Indians on the Island….

 

“The two or three dead bodies that were found on shore I believe were taken up & buried by the people of the Vessel but am not certain…. The bodies… I suppose could not be infectious, or not much, by reason of laying in the water which was cold at that time [in August?], and especially, as I before observed, if they were taken up and buried by the ship’s crew, then it is most likely it spread as said before from this washer woman.

 

“There appears something very observable in this Indian sickness formerly and seems to be differing from the yellow fever lately in these parts. That is, it seems the yellow fever in Philadelphia decreased as the winter or cold weather came on, and this yellow fever among the Indians did not, but continued almost through the winter. What is further very wonderful is that it should not spread among the white people, except with this Irish woman Molly Quin….

 

“Doctor Tupper seemed unwilling to go among the Indians in this sickness. I remember being of opinion he said that it was infectious like the plague in Europe, but upon the whole it was very wonderful and remarkable. Whether any Negro went among them I am not certain but I think I have heard some Negroes went among the sick Indians and did not have the sickness.

 

“That it did not spread among the white people here may at least serve to show us that the works of the Almighty are beyond our Comprehension & what human knowledge cannot forsee or prevent.”

 

“From the actions of sailors aboard the brig and of the townspeople, it is apparent that isolating the sick was the prevalent medical opinion for suspicious diseases that could be epidemic. On October 19, 1763, there was a vote by town meeting that “2 houses be built for the reception of such persons as are infested with the Small Pox…on Coatue point” and a decision to “suffer inoculation of the Small Pox to be practiced in said Town by a major vote of 68 against 41.” However, in the minutes of the five town meetings held between August 1763 and February 1764, the period of the Indian sickness, not one mention of their serious illness appears.

 

“While the Indians lay dying of perhaps yellow fever, friends and townspeople prepared to battle small pox by quarantine and inoculation. No record of panic here, but certainly worry and concern over their own safety is in evidence. The same town meeting went on to vote a committee to inspect the affair of inoculation and to determine when it shall be proper for persons to come into the town after they have been inoculated. Sailors, merchants, Indians and islanders all knew full well the devastating results of epidemics and disease on board ship and on island.

 

“Medical-care records of the probable yellow fever epidemic of 1763-64 are brief and blunt. The physician examined the afflicted; Richard Mitchell went among them as did others of English descent. Whites and Blacks were not affected by this epidemic. Out of an entire Indian population of 358, 222 died within a six-month period. From this medical information and his correspondence with Zaccheus Macy and Christopher Starbuck, Moses Brown, successful Quaker merchant of Providence, Rhode Island, built a strong case against the quarantine of vessels from the West Indies. Were it not for his inquiry, little would remain of the history of the Indian sickness at Miacomet….”

Sources

 

Keating, J. M.  A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN:  Howard Association, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New York Times.  “Yellow Fever Retrospect.”  October 7, 1888.  Accessed at:  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EFD81F38E033A25754C0A9669D94699FD7CF&oref=slogin

 

Pelrine, Donald. “The Indian Sickness in the Town of Miacomet.” Historic Nantucket, Vol. 39, No. 4, Winter 1991. Nantucket Historical Association website. Accessed 9-6-2012 at: http://www.nha.org/history/hn/HN-1991-winter-sickness.html

 

United States Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department. Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811).  Washington:  GPO, 1896.  Digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

[1] Cites: Toner. Med. Rep. 1853, p. 107.

1763-64 — Unangan/Eastern Aleut conflict with Russians, Unalaska/Umnak/Unimak Isl., AK–>375

— >375  University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska Native History and Cultures Timeline, pp. 1-2.

            –175-188  Russian hunters and sailors killed in retaliation for atrocities and trespass

            —     >200  Unangan/Aleut killed by Russians in retaliation.

—   188 Russians. usrussianrelations.org. 1763-64 Russian Fur Traders Clash with Aleut Natives.

Narrative Information

Alaska History & Cultural Studies. “Southwest Alaska. 1743-1867 Era of Russian Violence.”

 

“Fur traders conquer insular Southwest Alaska:

 

“….In 1763, the Aleuts rebelled against the Russians. Four of seven Russian ships wintering at Unalaska were destroyed and their crews were killed. In revenge, the Russians demolished Aleut villages on Umnak, Samalga, and the Islands of Four Mountains. They killed all of the villagers.”

 

University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska Native History and Cultures Timeline:

 

“1763.  Reacting to trespass of their territory, Unangan/Eastern Aleuts destroy four Russian vessels at Unalaska, Umnak and Unimak islands and only 12 survive of the more than 200 men. The Russians retaliate and kill more than 200 Unangan/Aleuts and destroy their boats, weapons, and tools.

 

“1763-1766. Conflict between Russian fur hunters and Unalaska Natives in which Unangan (Aleuts) destroy four Russian ships and kill 175 hunters. Solov’ev returns to Unalaska and directs massacre of many Natives.” (University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska Native History and Cultures Timeline, pp. 1-2.)

 

U.S.-Russia Relations: Quest For Stability – First Contact:

 

“1763-64 – Russian Fur Traders Clash with Aleut Natives

 

“In response to atrocities committed by the fur merchant Ivan Bechevin’s men on Unimak Island and the Alaska Peninsula, Alaskan natives known as Aleuts united and attacked Russian hunters on the islands. The Aleuts managed to destroy four Russian vessels, and out of a crew of 200 Russians, only 12 survived from the two ships anchored off of Unalaska Island. Bent on revenge, Russian traders raided Aleut villages. Despite winning a major battle by destroying Russian vessels and killing their crews in 1763–1764, the Aleuts lost the war, and the Russians’ scorched earth policy crushed the Aleut alliance. These events have entered folk memory among indigenous Alaskans as a time of destruction and the beginning of the end of Aleut autonomy.

 

 

Source

 

University of Alaska Fairbanks. Alaska Native History and Cultures Timeline, pp. 1-2. Accessed 9-18-2012 at: http://jukebox.uaf.edu/site/jukebox-includes/vilda/timeline.pdf

 

usrussianrelations.org. U.S.-Russia Relations: Quest For Stability – First Contact: “1763-64 – Russian Fur Traders Clash with Aleut Natives.” Accessed 1-27-2024 at: https://usrussiarelations.org/2/timeline/first-contact/4

 

 

1762 — Aug-Nov,[1] Yellow Fever, Philadelphia, PA –~100?

–~100?  Rush (Blanchard; derived from note that the fever carried off upwards of 20 a day.)[2]

 

Narrative Information

 

Redman: “…the yellow fever…raged among us chiefly in the southern parts of the city in 1762. By recurring [returning?] to and examining the contents of my day-book in the months of August, September, and October of that year…hoping thereby to render such and the best information I can, at this distance of time, on the subject to the College of Physicians….” (pp. 9-10)

 

“The 28th of August appears to be the first instance of my prescribing directly as to one in the yellow fever…as I then had but a small share of practice below Pine Street…with Drs. Bonds and some others, I have some notion that they had patients in it thereabouts a week before me. From thence to the 1st of September my share of patients with it was small, not above four or five; though the others had, I think in that space of time, many more additions in that quarter. But from that time they daily increased upon me, so that by the 15th, or rather from the 20th to the 25th (when it seems to have been at the height of its progress), as it appears by my book, I had daily to attend eighteen or twenty patients in the different stages of it, exclusive of convalescents. From the 27th it appears to have gradually declined, so that by the 20th of October I had but two or three fresh patients in it, and those I believe only such persons as had lately come to lodge or live in that part of the town. After that I had but one new patient that appears to have had that fever in its full force, all others being, according to my prescriptions either convalescents from it or dysenteries and remitting fevers, with some symptoms analogous to the precedent fever, but not very dangerous, and, if I recollect right, seldom fatal.

 

“The fever aforesaid was mostly circumscribed between Pine Street northerly to three or four squares from thence southerly, and extended from Front or Water Street to Third or Fourth Street westward. Some few had it nearly as low as the Swedes’ Church, and even to Moyamensing, but not many. I had only one patient near the last-mentioned place. A few had it also about the bridge and along Dock Street toward Walnut Street; but very few above Walnut Street were affected with it. Its first and greatest ravages were about the new market and the square to the eastward of it, in which — after some considerable search and tracing it — it was found to have originated in a number of small, back tenements, forming a kind of court, the entrance to which was by two narrow alleys from Front and Pine Streets, and where sailors often had their lodgings, to which a sick sailor from on board a vessel from the Havannah (where it then raged) was brought privately after night, before the vessel had come up to town, to the house of one Leadbetter, where he soon died, and was secretly buried; and I believe Leadbetter, with most of his family and many others in that court, soon after fell a sacrifice to the distemper; and from thence it spread rapidly, first affecting the houses nearest adjoining in Front and Pine Street.

 

“The patients were generally seized with a sudden and severe pain in the head and eye-balls, which were, I think, often though not always a little inflamed, or had a reddish cast, great prostration, or rater depression of spirits, pain in the back and bones, a sick stomach, generally attended (but in various degrees of violence) with frequent vomiting, more or less of green or yellow bile, and was distinguished from the cholera morbus by not having a purging with it. There was also a kind of cardialgia [heartburn] or burning heat about the scrobiculis cordis with great oppression….”  (pp. 10-14)

 

“They generally died on the fourth, fifth, or sixth day, some few later; but after the seventh day, or even sooner, if the pulse was much calmer and slower, without a coma, but inclined to an easy, natural sleep, tho’ short, the urine nearer to a straw colour, with a moist skin and tongue, and the bowels easily kept regular, we were encouraged to hope and promise much, and generally succeeded in our prognostication. Yet some failed us after, if they had only some, but not all the above promising symptoms clearly….” (p. 16)

 

Rush: “….I had once seen it [yellow fever] in the year 1762. Its symptoms were among the first impressions which diseases made upon my mind. I had recorded some of these symptoms. I had likewise recorded its mortality. I shall here introduce a short account of it from a note book which I kept during my apprenticeship.

 

In the year 11762, in the months of August, September, October, November and December, the bilious yellow fever prevailed in Philadelphia, after a very hot summer, and spread like a plague, carrying off daily for some time, upwards of twenty persons.

 

The patients were generally seized with rigors, which were succeeded with a violent fever, and pains in the head and back. The pulse was full, and sometimes irregular. The eyes were inflamed, and had a yellowish cast, and a vomiting almost always attended.

 

The 3d, 5th and 7th days were mostly critical, and the disease generally terminated on one of them, in life or death.

 

An eruption on the 3d or 7th day over the body, proved salutary.

 

An excessive heat, and burning about the region of the liver, with cold extremities, portended death to be at hand.

 

(Rush, Benjamin, M.D. An Account of the Bilious remitting Yellow Fever as it appeared in the City of Philadelphia in the Year 1793. Philadelphia, Thomas Dobson, 1794, pp. 13-14.)

 

Sources

 

Redman, John, MD. An Account of The Yellow Fever as it Prevailed in Philadelphia in the Autumn of 1762 (A paper presented to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia at its stated meeting, September 7, 1793. Philadelphia: Printed by order of the College, 1865. Google preview accessed 4-4-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=uyc3AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Rush, Benjamin, M.D. An Account of the Bilious remitting Yellow Fever as it appeared in the City of Philadelphia in the Year 1793. Philadelphia, Thomas Dobson, 1794. Google preview accessed 4-5-2018 at:

https://books.google.com/books?id=crA_AAAAcAAJ&dq=1762+yellow+fever+philadelphia&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

[1] Redman has the outbreak from Aug-Oct. Rush has it from Aug-Dec. We compromise between the two in that the mosquitoes which are the vector are generally killed off, or go into hibernation, with the first good frost.

[2] It would not take many such days for there to have been one hundred deaths. In a 1699 yellow fever epidemic there were 220 deaths, in 1741 there were 250. In the big epidemic in 1793, between 4,000 and 5,000 died, and so on. We suspect that there were many more than approximately 100, however, the larger the number one guestimates, the farther out on the limb one has gone.

1760-61 — Winter-Spring, Influenza Epidemic, esp. Natives, esp. CT, MA, ME, PA–Hundreds

— Hundreds. National Library of Medicine. Native Voices. “Timeline. 1761: First known…”

 

Connecticut    (>85)

–40  Bethlehem. Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic…Pestilential Diseases. 1799, p. 248-249.

–34          “          Caulfield. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” 1950, p. 49.

–45  East Haven. “…about forty-five men in the prime of life, mostly heads of families.”[1]

—  ?  Hartford. “…it carried off a number of robust men, in two or three days from the attack.” [2]

—  ?  New Haven. Caulfield. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings…Antiquarian… 1950, p.49-50.

—  ?  North Haven. “…it attacked few persons, but every one of them died.” Webster 1799, 249.

—  ?  Woodbury. Caulfield. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings…Antiquarian… 1950, 49.

 

Maine             (   ?)

–?  Falmouth. “the end of March [1761] was ‘a sickly, dying, melancholy time.’” (Parson Smith)[3]

 

Massachusetts (  ?)

–?  Weymouth, April-May, 1761. (Doctor Cotton Tufts ltr. to Noah Webster, cited in Caulfield.)

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield: “It is generally accepted among medical historians that severe influenza spread throughout most of the country during the winter and spring of 1760-1761. Early in September, 1760, rumors had reached the country towns that as many as twenty persons were dying in Boston daily, but the News-Letter of September 11, in denying such stories, said that there ere not twenty deaths a week, yet acknowledged the prevalence of two diseases, the bloody flux [diarrhea] and colds. Various sources indicate that by late September ‘Great Colds’ were prevalent throughout Massachusetts, and October was ‘a tedious Time for Colds and Caughs [sic]’ among the Massachusetts men in the camps around Ticonderoga. The New London Summary (February 20, 1761) said that ‘Great Colds’ had prevailed in Connecticut throughout the autumn.

 

“The first indication of severe influenza was the outbreak which began in Bethlehem, Connecticut, that November and caused 34 deaths, five of them in the home of Dr. Zephaniah Hull….Other severe epidemics were reported in Connecticut between November, 1760, and March, 1761, particularly in Woodbury, New Haven, and East Haven. It was said that many robust men in the prime of life died after a few days of sickness.

 

“…Parson Smith of Falmouth, Maine…wrote in his diary that the end of March was ‘a sickly, dying, melancholy time.’ Massachusetts had a second round of ‘colds’ during the spring of 1761 when they ‘were never known to prevail so universally.’ Doctor Cotton Tufts sent Webster [Noah] a description of the ‘malignant fever’ which prevailed in Weymouth [MA] during Aril and May, a description which has been quoted as representative of New England influenza, but Tufts said that this disease was fatal only to the aged. In fact there is some doubt about the prevalence of influenza in Massachusetts during the spring of 1761. The May 28 issue of the News-Letter [Boston], in correcting another newspaper’s account of the ‘mortal fever’ in Halifax, said ‘That it was only a Cold, such as has prevailed in this and the neighbouring Towns lately.’”

(Caulfield, Ernest. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 1950, pp. 49-50.)

 

Finkler: “Epidemic of 1761.

 

“According to Webster, the influenza visited America in this year, for he says in regard to the year 1762 that the influenza made its appearance in Europe one year later than in America.

 

“The influenza appeared in the spring of 1761 in the northern parts of America.  In Philadelphia it occurred in the winter (Webster probably means the winter of 1760-61), in Massachusetts in the month of April, in the same month and also in May in Weymouth; it even reached the West Indies in its march ‘through the whole country,’ having invaded Babadoes [sic] in May….” (Finkler, Ditmar.  “Influenza.” P. 26 in Stedman, Thomas L. (Ed.). Twentieth Century Practice: An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical Science, Volume 15, Infectious Diseases.  NY: William Wood and Co., 1898, pp. 1-249.)

 

Gordon: “1761. Severe catarrh or influenza prevailed in spring in the United States…” (Surgeon-General C.A. Gordon (UK). An Epitome of the Reports of the Medical Officers…1884, p. 366.)

 

Thornton: “…an epidemic of influenza probably occurred among American Indians in 1761 (Dobyns 1983:17, table 2; 19, table 3[4])….” (Thornton. The Cherokees: A Population History. 1990, p. 33.)

 

US NLM: “Influenza is one of the diseases that Europeans brought to the New World. Unlike previous influenza epidemics, this one originates in the Americas in the spring and then spreads to Europe and the world. This viral strain, which causes inflammation of the larynx and trachea, first takes hold among settlers and Native peoples. Hundreds of Native peoples die.

 

“Reaching Europe in the midst of the flourishing intellectual climate known as the Enlightenment, the pandemic is the first to be studied by many physicians and others, who communicate about it through European medical journals and books.” (US Nat. Library of Med. Native Voices. “Timeline. 1761: First known influenza pandemic from the Americas begins.”)

 

Webster: “In November, the town of Bethlem [sic] was assailed by an inflammatory fever, with symptoms of typhus, which in the course of the following winter, carried off about 40 of the inhabitants. The disease as extremely violent, terminating on the 3d or 4th day; in some cases, the patient died within 24 hours of the attack. It seems to have been that species of winter fever, which occurs in pestilential periods, mentioned under the year 1698….

 

“This disease was called a malignant pleurisy….

 

“The same species of fever prevailed in that winter and the spring following, in many other parts of Connecticut… In Hartford it carried off a number of robust men, in two or three days from the attack. In North-Haven it attacked few persons, but every one of them died. In East-Haven about forty-five men in the prime of life, mostly heads of families. The same disease prevailed in New-Haven among the inhabitants, and students in college.

 

“It is obvious then that this was an epidemic, very well known in sickly periods, and not dependent on local causes.” (Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases. 1799, pp. 248-249.)

Sources

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 1950, pp. 21-52. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44807204.pdf

 

Finkler, Ditmar. “Influenza.” P. 26 in Stedman, Thomas L. (Ed.). Twentieth Century Practice: An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical Science, Volume 15, Infectious Diseases.  NY: William Wood and Co., 1898, pp. 1-249. Accessed 9-18-2012 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=wWy2ZRmVmY8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Gordon, Surgeon-General C. A., MD (compiled by). An Epitome of the Reports of the Medical Officers to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service from 1871 to 1882. London: Bailliѐre, Tindall, and Cox, 1884. Google preview accessed 3-30-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=KC0AAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Thornton, Russell. The Cherokees: A Population History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Google preview accessed 8-23-2015 and 1-10-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=3Cgr4fPfAZQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

United States National Library of Medicine. Native Voices. Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness. “Timeline. 1761: First known influenza pandemic from the Americas begins.” Bethesda, MD:   National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed 9-17-2012 at:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/226.html

 

Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases; with the principal phenomena of the physical world which precede and accompany them, and observations deduced from the facts stated (in two volumes). Hartford, CT: Hudson & Goodwin, 1799. Accessed 3-30-2018 at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N27531.0001.001/1:12?rgn=div1;view=fulltext


 

[1] Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic…Pestilential Diseases. 1799, p. 248-249.

[2] Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic…Pestilential Diseases. 1799, p. 248-249.

[3] Cited in Caulfield. “The Pursuit of a Pestilence.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Apr 1950, p50.

[4] We cannot access the bibliography in our Google preview. However, it would appear to be a reference to: Henry F. Dobyns and William R. Swagerty. Their Number Become Thinned: Native American Population Dynamics in Eastern North America. University of Tennessee Press, 1983.

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