Reasons Our Ancestors Migrated

Regretfully, I don't remember where I first obtained this information. So whoever emailed it to me, please forgive me! I have, however, liberally added my comments.

We are a very mobile society today. People think nothing of accepting a job offer in another state or in another country on the other side of the globe. I spent over 20 years in the Navy and lived in 3 foreign countries and 5 states. We tended to more every 3 or so years.

But it was not always so. In other times, the decision to migrate to another place was a very major consideration. It was fraught with risk and danger, and meant leaving many things behind. Undertaking such a move might also mean never seeing parents, siblings, other family members, and friends again. It was a very big decision, one not taken lightly.

Do you know where your ancestors came from? The Campseys came from Ireland. Why did they leave Ireland in the 1790's? There was no major famine at that time. Do you know what influenced their decision to migrate? Why did the Campseys settle in Pennsylvania then move onward to Ohio, Missouri, Kansas and Texas? Do you know why your ancestors settled where they did? The answers to these questions can help you better understand your ancestors and, in turn, help you develop better hypotheses about them.

Here I have listed a few possible reasons why my ancestors might have moved.
Religious or Ethnic Persecution Natural Disasters Famine Economic Problems War Political Strife/Turmoil/Oppression	Following Family and Friends Adoption Forced Relocation of Native Americans Criminal Incarceration/Deportment Not a First Son Great Financial Opportunity
Epidemics! Epidemics in U.S. - 1657 - 1918 Some Historically Significant Epidemics

Reasons Why Ancestors Migrated
Let me first say that the reasons that follow cannot possibly encompass the universe of factors that influenced our ancestors to make a move. However, these (in no particular order) appear throughout history as the most common reasons for migrating to a new place.

Religious or Ethnic Persecution. The desire for the freedom to exercise one's religious beliefs, or to pursue the lifestyle of one's ethnic group, is one the most overwhelming reasons for migration of our ancestors. Protestants practiced their religion in secret during the rule of Catholic monarchs across Europe. You will recall stories of the Puritans, Quakers, and Huguenots and their migrations to establish some of the most successful settlements in the New World. In addition, the persecution of Jews throughout history forced many of them to relocate again and again, and many migrated again to settle in the newly formed nation of Israel after its formation in 1948. Were your ancestors persecuted, and as a result, did they migrate elsewhere?

Natural Disasters. Drought, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, fires, hurricanes, and other natural disasters were life-altering catastrophes that caused people to leave one place and move to another. Recent examples include the Johnstown Flood of 1889, the hurricane in 1900 that decimated Galveston, TX, the San Francisco earthquakes of 1906 and 1989, the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, and the 1990's devastating wildfires near Los Alamos, NM, and throughout the western US. All of these calamities resulted in loss of life and destruction of property, and many survivors abandoned the area and migrated elsewhere. Were your ancestors victims of such a catastrophe?

Famine. Drought and plant diseases are common natural causes of famine; wars, land mismanagement, and other human-caused disasters also result in famine. Whatever the reason for famine, people cannot withstand starvation for long, and they often migrate elsewhere. Consider the Irish Potato Famine, the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression in the United States, the accounts of Chinese famines in Jung Chang's book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, and the TV news accounts we frequently see of famine in Africa. Starving people will become refugees to seek sources of nourishment. Did any of your ancestors migrate because of famine?

Economic Problems. The economic problems of an area can cause people to migrate. Consider the tale of the French stonemason, who because of economic inflation and government politics in the early 1800s, could not find enough work to feed his family and his parents. On hearing of the growing housing development in upstate New York created by the opening of the Erie Canal, he sold everything and moved his entire extended family to America; there he began what became one of the most successful building concerns in what is now the Buffalo, NY area.

War. The conflict and destruction caused by war is a major cause for upheaval of persons. People may have been fleeing approaching armies, or the men may have been trying to avoid conscription in order to protect and provide for their families. They may have lost their homes and possessions as a result of bombing. They may also have been the targets of political or ethnic persecution. They may even have been like Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary recounts her family's persecution, flight, and hiding in Amsterdam during World War II. Wars displace people and make them refugees. Were your ancestors participants in or victims of a war?

Political Strife/Turmoil/Oppression. Political conditions may be too oppressive to be endured, and as a result, people may flee to other areas or countries. The United States has for centuries been a haven to Europeans emigrating to seek freedom from political oppression. German citizens emigrated during the 1930s to avoid the expanding Nazi menace; Russian athletes and dancers defected to the United States when they had an opportunity to visit; and Cuban refugees continue to attempt to flee the Castro regime. Were your ancestors trying to avoid political oppression when they came to North America?

Following Family and Friends. Many people followed other family members or friends who had already moved somewhere else. Tales and promises of better living conditions, prosperity, or opportunity to start a new life were sometimes irresistible lures. Pioneers who went west in wagon trains to settle in California and Oregon wrote home with glowing descriptions that convinced families and friends to join them. And who can forget the irresistible lure of gold in California in the late 1840s and 1850s? Sometimes, too, people decided to accompany their family members or good friends when they decided to migrate. In my own ancestry, I can trace four brothers and their entire families and seventeen families that were their close friends, including their minister and his family, who all migrated from Cecil County, MD to Mecklenburg County, NC in the 1740s. This was not uncommon. Did your ancestors follow or accompany other family or friends to another location?

Adoption. Adoption forces the movement of the adoptee from one place to another without his or her control. Not only were there simple family-to-family placements, but the Orphan Trains also carried children from cities across North American and placed as many as 150,000 to 200,000 children in new homes in forty-seven states, Canada, and South America. Was one of your ancestors an adoptee? Was your ancestor relocated by the Orphan Trains?

Forced Relocation of Native Americans. As the colonies and states grew and expanded, Native Americans were deemed "in the way of progress." Armed conflicts between Native Americans and white settlers and their armies ensued. Ultimately, the Native Americans lost and were coerced or compelled to sign treaties with the government. These treaties called for the ceding of Native American lands and the permanent relocation of American Indians to parcels referred to as reservations. Many died in the relocation marches, such as the "Trail of Tears." Were any of your ancestors Native Americans who were forced to relocate to a reservation? Were some of your ancestors the REASON the Native Americans were forced to relocate?

Criminal Incarceration/Deportment. Some criminals were transported to the colonies to serve their sentences of hard labor or to simply get rid of them permanently. Others were offered the option of relocating to a colony rather than face prolonged imprisonment in their homeland. James Edward Oglethorpe, for instance, devised a plan for the colony of Georgia to be populated by the debtors released from prison and the so-called "worthy poor" of London. Australia was originally a penal colony. Were any of your ancestors criminals or debtors who were deported to another place?

Not a First Son. It was common in the Middle Ages (and later) for the eldest son to inherit all property on the death of his father. He could allow his mother and other siblings to remain or could force them to leave. Sisters to the eldest son were usually married off; depending on the size of the estate and the temperament of the inheritor, his brothers either remained on sufferance or as employees of the eldest son, or they were encouraged to strike out on their own to make their own way in the world. Was your ancestor an inheriting eldest son, or one who moved on to make it on his own?

Great Financial Opportunity. We've all heard tales of immigrants who came to America to see the streets that were "paved with gold." Many immigrants left family, friends, and everything familiar for the opportunity to make a new life and to prosper. Probably more than any other reason for migrating, this is the most common. Did your ancestor come to the United States to make a fortune?

Give It Some Thought
There were many motivations for your ancestors to migrate from overseas to the New World. Once here, they learned firsthand of opportunities where they landed and beyond, and they may have moved once, twice, or more times until they found what suited their needs.

This is just some general information and maybe you can identify an epidemic in the US and some historically significant epidemics.

Epidemics in U.S. - 1657 - 1918

Epidemics have always had a great influence on people -- and thus influencing, as well, the genealogists trying to trace them. Many cases of people disappearing from records can be traced to dying during an epidemic or moving away from the affected area. Some of the major epidemics in the United States are listed below:

1657 Boston: Measles 1687 Boston: Measles 1690 New York: Yellow Fever 1713 Boston: Measles 1729 Boston: Measles 1732-33 Worldwide: Influenza 1738 South Carolina: Smallpox 1739-40 Boston: Measles 1747 Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania & South Carolina: Measles 1759 North America (areas inhabited by white people): Measles 1761-61 North America & West Indies: Influenza 1772 North America: MeaslesMeasles 1775 North America (especially hard in New England): Epidemic (unknown) 1775-76 Worldwide: Influenza 1781-82 Worldwide: Influenza (one of worst flu epidemics) 1788 Philadelphia & New York: Measles 1793 Vermont: Influenza and a "putrid fever" 1793 Virginia: Influenza (kills 500 people in 5 counties in 4 weeks) 1793 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst) 1783 Delaware (Dover): "extremely fatal" bilious disorder 1793 Pennsylvania (Harrisburg & Middletown): many unexplained deaths 1794 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever 1796-97 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever 1798 Philadelphia: Yellow Fever (one of worst) 1803 New York: Yellow Fever

1820-23 Nationwide: "fever" (starts on Schuylkill River, PA & spreads 1831-32 Nationwide: Asiatic Cholera (brought by English emigrants) 1832 New York & other major cities: Cholera 1837 Philadelphia: Typhus 1841 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (especially severe in South) 1847 New Orleans: Yellow Fever 1847-48 Worldwide: Influenza 1848-49 North America: Cholera 1850 Nationwide: Yellow Fever 1850-51 North America: Influenza 1852 Nationwide: Yellow Fever (New Orleans: 8,000 die in summer) 1855 Nationwide (many parts): Yellow Fever 1857-59 Worldwide: Influenza (one of disease's greatest epidemics) 1860-61 Pennsylvania: Smallpox 1865-73 Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, & Washington D.C.: a series of recurring epidemics of Smallpox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever & Yellow Fever 1873-75 North America & Europe: Influenza 1878 New Orleans: Yellow Fever (last great epidemic of disease) 1885 Plymouth, PA: Typhoid 1886: Jacksonville, Fl: Yellow Fever 1918 Worldwide: Influenza (high point year) More people hospitalized in World War I from Influenza than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps -- with 80 percent death rate in some camps.

451 B.C. A severe outbreak of an unidentified disease struck Rome, and was recorded by the historians Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnasus.

430 B.C. The Great Plague of Athens was described by Thucydides, who survived an attack himself. The symptoms described have been variously interpreted as smallpox, typhus, bubonic plague, or most recently, Ebola virus. The outbreak seriously impaired the Athenian army, and prolonged the Peloponnesian War.

410 B.C. The first recorded epidemic of mumps was described by Hippocrates, who was probably present on the Island of Thasos where the epidemic struck around 410.

400 B.C. Hippocrates also recorded an outbreak of a cough followed by pneumonia and other symptoms, at Perinthus in northern Greece (now part of Turkey). Several possible identifications have been suggested, including influenza, whooping cough and diphtheria.

212 B.C. The Roman army was struck by an infectious disease, perhaps influenza, described by the historian Livy.

1st century A.D. The earliest unequivocal epidemic of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean occurred in Libya, Egypt and Syria.

165-80 The Antonine Plague, or Plague of Galen, was probably smallpox or measles, or both, and was brought back to the Roman Empire by troops returning from the Middle East. The Roman emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus both died from it, in 169 and 180 respectively.

251-270 The Plague of Cyprian takes its name from Saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who described symptoms that suggest measles or smallpox rather than bubonic plague. This epidemic killed the Roman emperor Claudius in 270, and is credited with encouraging mass conversions to Christianity. It has also been suggested as the time that Christians first began wearing black as the color of mourning.

542 The Plague of Justinian was the first pandemic of bubonic plague, beginning in Egypt and Ethiopia and sweeping through the Mediterranean. About 300,000 people died in Constantinople alone during the first year. The Byzantine emperor Justinian was stricken, but recovered; however the disease crushed his ambitions to recover the full extent of the old Roman empire under his rule. Merchant ships carried the disease into the rest of the Mediterranean, and it flared up repeatedly in Europe for the next 50 years.

569 A smallpox epidemic struck Arabia and forced the Ethiopian army to retreat, thus ending their rule there. This was known as the Elephant War epidemic, for the white elephant on which the Christian prince Abraha rode into Mecca before his defeat, and is described in the Koran. It was one of the earliest recorded epidemics of smallpox.

590 A.D. Bubonic plague killed Pope Pelagius II, who was succeeded by the reformer Gregory the Great.

680 A.D. Plague again struck Rome and Italy, and is credited with the origin of the cult of St. Sebastian, a third century martyr who was regarded as a protector against disease, because the epidemic abated after his bones were moved from Rome to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Pavia.

700s-800s Japan suffered repeated epidemics of smallpox. The one in 735-736 killed several members of the ruling Fujiwara family, and led to a religious fervor that facilitated the spread of Buddhism.

746-748 A.D. Constantinople was struck again by plague.

10th century Japan was struck again by smallpox epidemics, and also by measles.

1081 The army of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was defeated by disease in his attempt to conquer Rome, probably typhoid fever and dysentery, and perhaps also malaria.

1098 The First Crusade was delayed and made more difficult by disease, in particular by an epidemic probably of typhoid fever that struck in Syria in 1098 after the siege of Antioch.

1148. An epidemic at Adalia on the coast of Anatolia wiped out soldiers and pilgrims of the Second Crusade and facilitated their defeat by the Turks.

1167 The army of Frederick Barbarossa was nearly destroyed after his conquest of Rome in 1167 by an epidemic disease. Whether this was typhus, malaria, or something else has not been decided.

14th century. The Black Death, an outbreak of bubonic plague, was the most devastating single epidemic of all time, killing probably a third or more of the population of Europe and Asia. It originated in central Asia and had already killed an estimated 25 million people before it reached Constantinople in 1347. From there it was spread around the Mediterranean by merchant ships and by crusaders returning from the middle east. By 1350 it had spread throughout Europe, and at least another 25 million people had died. The social upheaval that ensued is generally regarded as the end of the Middle Ages. Outbreaks of bubonic plague continued sporadically in various European locations throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.

1494-95 Syphilis first appeared in Europe, beginning among Spanish soldiers in Naples. Historians differ on whether it was brought back by explorers returning from America. The Italians called it the Spanish or French Disease, the French called it the Italian disease, the Russians called it the Polish disease, and the Arabs called it the disease of the Christians. Smallpox, which had existed previously in Europe, also got its modern name at this time, to distinguish it from syphilis which was also known as "the pox".

1499 Plague struck London, causing thousands of deaths, the first of a number of outbreaks in that city.

1507-1551 England was struck several times during this period by a mysterious disease characterized by profuse sweating. After the last outbreak in 1551, it disappeared permanently, and has never been identified unequivocally with a modern disease.

1512 Syphilis struck Japan for the first time, and was attributed to Chinese traders coming to Nagasaki.

1507 and 1518 Two epidemics of smallpox killed from a third to more than half of the native populations of Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.

1520 Smallpox followed by starvation killed millions of the native inhabitants of Mexico. Introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez on April 23, 1520, it rapidly spread inland, and was credited with the victory of Cortes over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521. From Mexico it spread south into central and south America, exterminating huge numbers of natives in those areas as well.

1525-27 Smallpox in Peru killed the Inca ruler, Huayna Capac, and some 200,000 others, and destroyed the Inca Empire.

1528 Typhus attacked French troops besieging Naples, killing well over half the army. The remaining soldiers retreated and were then destroyed by forces of the Holy Roman Empire. The troops of Charles V later suffered their own defeat to typhus at the French city of Metz in 1552, however.

1555 Smallpox struck Brazil for the first time, killing vast numbers of natives.

1560s Bubonic plague struck London again in 1563, and was probably its worst outbreak ever, killing an estimated quarter to a third of the population. Subsequent outbreaks occurred in 1578, 1593, 1603, 1625, 1636, and 1665, each time killing thousands. In terms of proportion of the total population destroyed, the 1563 and 1665 epidemics were the worst.

1576 Mexico's first epidemic of typhus killed many natives. This was another of the lethal diseases introduced by Europeans.

1576 Paris and several other European cities suffered from diphtheria. This epidemic marks the first accurate description of this disease, by the physician Guillaume de Baillou. Two years later he described whooping cough in its first confirmed outbreak, although the disease probably had existed prior to this time.

1591 Smallpox struck the Philippines for the first time, arriving on a Spanish ship from Mexico and spreading through the country with high mortality rates.

1590-1610 Plague swept many European cities again.

1592-96 One of the earliest outbreaks of measles among native Americans in North America struck the Seneca Indians in central New York state, and caused hundreds or maybe thousands of deaths.

1617-1619 A smallpox outbreak killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Indians, probably introduced from fishing boats that visited the coast before there was a permanent English settlement there. The few remaining natives were weakened, and were unable to resist the landing of the Mayflower settlers at Plymouth in 1620.

1618 Italy was swept by outbreaks of diphtheria.

1618-48 The period of the Thirty Years War in Germany was marked by repeated epidemics, including typhus, plague and dysentery that spread to other European countries.

1625-40 Bubonic plague spread through France. Probably the worst single outbreak was in Lyon in 1628.

1633 Smallpox again struck the Indians in Massachusetts, probably brought on arriving ships of settlers. At least 15 children died on incoming ships, as well as about 20 colonists already resident.

1634 Smallpox in Connecticut, a catastrophic epidemic that was introduced by Dutch traders and killed 95% of the Indians along the Connecticut River, and spread north into Canada. The English settlers were mostly immune, having had the disease as children themselves, but attributed their escape, and the Indians' death, to God's will. The elimination of the natives in the Connecticut valley opened up that area to settlement.

1647 Yellow fever killed more than 5,000 people in Barbados, and spread from there to Mexico, Cuba, and elsewhere. A second outbreak in 1691 killed many of the British settlers in Barbados, who had arrived since the earlier outbreak, whereas older natives were by this time immune.

1648-49 Another smallpox outbreak spread to many towns in the Massachusetts colony. By this time there had been many children born in the colony who were susceptible. A simultaneous epidemic of whooping cough added to the severity of the epidemic, and to the overall death toll.

1662 Smallpox killed more than a thousand Iroquois in central New York state.

1665 The Great Plague of London killed at least 20 percent of the city's population, perhaps as many as 100,000 people.

1666 A smallpox outbreak struck Boston, but was relatively mild, and only about 40 people died.

1668 Probably the earliest recorded epidemic of yellow fever non-tropical America, striking New York in late summer and early fall of 1668, and described as an "autumnal bilious fever in infectious form". The contemporary descriptions leave some possibility open that it could have been some other disease, but yellow fever seems the most likely.

1677-78 Another smallpox epidemic in Boston was much worse than the 1666 epidemic, and killed several of the town leaders.

1679 Plague spread from the Ottoman Empire into Austria, killing thousands of people especially in Vienna.

1699 Charleston SC had an epidemic, the first there to be positively identified as yellow fever; probably about 160-190 died.

1702 Yellow fever struck New York, killing more than 500 people over a three-month period, which was probably about 10% of the population at the time.

1702-1703 Smallpox hit Boston again. This time about 300 died, but a simultaneous outbreak of scarlet fever makes it hard to assess who died from what.

1706 Charleston SC was struck with yellow fever again. About 5% of the population died.

1720 Another outbreak of plague in France, centered on Marseilles and killing probably a third to half the population there.

1721-22 Smallpox struck Boston again, with about 6000 people affected in a total population of 11,000, of whom 844 died. This epidemic prompted the first use of inoculation against smallpox in the New World.

1728,1732 Charleston SC was hit by yellow fever twice in a four year period. The cause (mosquitoes) was not understood, and treatment wasn't very effective.

1735-40 Epidemics of diphtheria and scarlet fever spread through various parts of New England. Both diseases were referred to as "throat distemper" and weren't distinguished. Hundreds of people died, most of them children.

1743-1745 Yellow fever struck New York again. A correlation with the dockyard areas was noticed, but mosquitoes were still not recognized as the vector.

1763-64 Smallpox hit Boston once again, with about 170 deaths. This epidemic was less serious than previous ones, probably because of inoculation.

1789 A widespread epidemic of influenza hit New England, New York and Nova Scotia in fall 1789. Most deaths appear to have been from secondary pneumonia.

1792-99 Yellow fever ravaged cities all along the east coast, including Charleston, Philadelphia, New Haven, New York, and Baltimore. The outbreak in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793 was the most severe, and most memorable. The disease was probably introduced from ships carrying French refugees who were fleeing turmoil in Santo Domingo, and then spread by mosquitoes that bred in stagnant water that in years with more rain had been waterways and canals. Ten percent of the population in that city died, about 5,000 people altogether. The new city of Washington DC was under construction at the time, and Philadelphia was the interim capital. Most of the government officials fled the city, including George Washington and the members of his cabinet. Various treatments were tried, none of them very effective, and controversy raged over the best way to prevent and treat the disease. Cold weather finally brought an end to the outbreak, in late October.

1802 Smallpox killed about two thirds of the Omaha Indians in what is now northeast Nebraska.

1805-07 Typhus outbreaks occurred during the occupation of Vienna by the French army in 1805, and spread throughout central Europe with Napoleon's army, affecting both soldiers and civilians.

1812-1813 Napoleon's army was attacked again by typhus and dysentery during his invasion of Russia, both on the march eastward and again on the return, where disease was exacerbated by severe cold and starvation. It is estimated that only about 30,000 survived of the nearly 600,000 troops that began the campaign.

1817-1823 The first great cholera pandemic of the 19th century swept Asia, probably originating near Calcutta and spreading from there throughout southeast Asia, Japan and China. Although it spread as far as southern Russia and the middle east, an exceptionally cold winter in 1823-24 kept it from reaching western Europe.

1826-28 Dengue fever spread from Savannah, Georgia, to other cities along the southeastern coast, and through the Caribbean.

1829-33 In the Pacific northwest, malaria killed an estimated 150,000 native Americans. Other diseases may have contributed to the death toll, but contemporary writing describes symptoms that closely correspond to those of malaria. The disease was probably introduced in February 1829 by a ship reaching Oregon after coming from Chile, carrying infected mosquitoes in water tanks onboard ship. The Columbia River was flooded at the time, creating stagnant water in which the mosquitoes could breed.

1830-31 An influenza epidemic began in Asia, probably China, late in 1829, and spread from there to the Philippines in September 1830, to Indonesia in January 1831, through the Malay peninsula and into Asia in 1832. The disease also broke out in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the winter of 1830-31 and spread westward overland through the summer of 1831. By November it had reached the U.S., and continued to spread there in 1832. Another outbreak of influenza spread through Asia and Europe during 1836-37 but except for a single Canadian focus did not reach North America.

1826-37 The second cholera pandemic of the 19th century, and the most devastating one, began in Bengal and spread through India in 1826. It reached Afghanistan in 1827, and spread further into central Asia and the middle east. By late 1830 it had reached Moscow, and from there spread westward into Europe in 1831. It reached England on a ship from Hamburg in October 1831 and spread throughout the British Isles. It reached New York in 1832, and spread from there throughout most of the U.S.

1837 Smallpox started with a Sioux tribe in Missouri in June 1837, then spread to Blackfoot and other tribes in Montana and Saskatchewan. The last previous outbreak among the Blackfoot had been in 1781, so by 1837 most of the population was susceptible.

1847 Hundreds of Cayuse Indians in the Pacific northwest were killed by measles. This tribe had never been exposed to measles previously, and missionaries were blamed for introducing it. One missionary near present-day Walla Walla tried to provide them with food and medicine, but the Indians thought he was making it worse, and killed him, his wife and twelve others at the mission, and took a number of others hostage. Several years of conflict followed.

1849 The third major worldwide pandemic of cholera, again starting in Bengal, reached Europe and the U.S. in 1848-49. The English physician John Snow demonstrated in 1854 that it was spread by contaminated water.

1850-51 An extensive epidemic of dengue fever began in Charleston SC, then spread to Savannah, Augusta, New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, and other southern coastal cities.

1853 Smallpox was introduced to Hawaii by a ship arriving from San Francisco. At least 2500 people died, possibly as many as 5,000.

1861-65 The U.S. Civil War brought epidemics of dysentery, typhoid fever, hepatitis, malaria, smallpox, measles, and venereal diseases. More than three times as many soldiers died of infectious disease than died of battle wounds.

1863-66 The fourth cholera pandemic of the 19th century began in India in 1863, spread first to the middle east, and then into the Mediterranean. It arrived in New York on a ship coming from France in October 1865, and spread rapidly. Public health reform kept the death toll lower than in previous epidemics, but there were tens of thousands of deaths nonetheless. Another wave swept through the south and midwest in 1873, hitting particularly hard in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

1868-75 Smallpox outbreaks hit New York, Philadelphia and other cities, and it was discovered that many children had not been vaccinated. The New York City Board of Health recommended that all residents be vaccinated in 1870, but there was widespread public resistance, since the vaccine itself was not without risk, and people perceived the campaign as creating a panic situation and allowing doctors to profit from it.

1875-76 A particularly bad epidemic of scarlet fever swept Australia, with high mortality rates.

1878-79 Yellow fever again swept through New Orleans, Memphis, and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

1881-1896 A fifth cholera pandemic was notable for the discovery of its cause, by the German physician Robert Koch. Like its predecessors, this epidemic began in India, and spread both east and west from there. By this time improvements in sanitation kept it from affecting many European cities, and improved diagnosis and quarantine measures kept it out of the U.S. A sixth pandemic began in 1899, and continued to spread through Asia over the next ten years. The U.S. was not affected, nor were most western European cities.

1887 Paralytic polio was first described in an epidemic in Sweden.

1889-90 A worldwide epidemic of influenza, the most devastating to that time, began in central Asia in the summer of 1889, spread north into Russia, east to China and west to Europe. By December it had struck the major U.S. cities, and continued to spread through North America the following year. Parts of Africa and the middle east were infected early in 1890; and India, southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand were reached between February and May. Completing the circle, eastern China had the last major outbreak of this pandemic, in September and October of 1890.

1893-94 The first large recorded outbreak of polio in the U.S. began in Boston, and spread into New England, particularly Vermont. Of 132 cases documented in Vermont, there were 18 deaths and 30 victims left with permanent paralysis.

1890s The third plague pandemic began in China in the 1850s and spread slowly until it reached the seaports in the 1880s, then spread more rapidly around the world, striking particularly hard in India, Egypt and north Africa, and South America. The continental U.S. was largely spared, but Hawaii suffered a severe outbreak in 1899, and San Francisco was affected in 1900-1904, and again in 1907-1909. The second outbreak there was exacerbated by unsanitary conditions following the earthquake of 1906. Sporadic outbreaks continued worldwide for years, and officially this pandemic was not considered over until 1959.

1901-03 Smallpox had its last major outbreak in the urban northeast U.S., beginning in New York and spreading through other major cities.

1907-1916 Polio turned into a major problem in the U.S., with about a thousand cases in New York in 1907, and another outbreak in 1911. The disease was recognized as contagious, but there was no understanding yet of exactly how it was spread. The first widespread outbreak, seriously affecting 26 states, occurred in 1916. About 7,000 deaths were recorded.

1917-1919 The most lethal influenza pandemic ever killed half a million people worldwide. Its spread was facilitated by troop movements in the closing months of World War I. Mortality rates were unusually high for flu, especially among young, otherwise healthy adults. Deaths occurred both from the flu itself and from secondary pneumonia.

1931 Another outbreak of polio swept the U.S. during the summer of 1931, killing more than 4,000 people, about 12 percent of the reported cases.

1942-53 Polio continued to ravage the U.S., peaking in 1952 with about 60,000 cases. Introduction of the Salk vaccine in 1955 brought an end to the epidemic.

1957-58 The "Asian flu" started in southwest China in February 1957, possibly having originated in 1956 in Vladivostok. Globally it affected 10-35% of the population but overall mortality was much lower than in the 1918 epidemic, about 0.25%. The flu spread to Hong Kong and Singapore in April 1957, Japan in May, elsewhere in Pacific in June, the middle east and Africa in July, Europe in August-October, and the U.S. in October of 1957.