Family searches can be frustrating. Before 1900 it was not uncommon for people to interchange their first and middle names , birth dates were not always recorded or remembered so approximations were used. Immigrants were often illiterate and uneducated. Many could not read or write and had little concept of when they were born or what their true age was. Many people who want to find their roots will follow and record only their direct line, forgetting or discounting siblings and sibling families. One should remember though that prior to the 1940's there was no social security or guaranteed retirement. Families had to depend on each other. Often a parent can be found living with the families of their grown children. Siblings who have not married or who have no children would live with siblings . Poor houses were also popular throughout the US during the 1800's. Children of indigent parents or orphaned would find themselves in large orphanages or on the orphan trains sent out west to help on farms, or shuffled off to relation who had more resources and needed the help on farms, or in the home. Epidemics periodically swept the US and took many lives. Entire families died out and disappeared from the record over night. Children died of croup, asthma, accidents, and , some times, of child abuse. Laws did not protect children the way they do now. School was not compulsory in the US before 1852 when Massachusetts passed laws to mandate all towns in Mass. provide children with an education. If parents did not send their children to school they could be fined or their children taken and apprenticed to a family that would provide a "proper education". The following shows the date by state that school became mandatory Alabama -1915 Louisiana-1910 Oklahoma-1907 Alaska-1929 Maine-1875 Oregon-1889
Arizona-1899 Maryland- 1902 Pennsylvania-1895 Arkansas-1909 Massachusetts-1852
Rhode Island-1883 California-1874 Michigan-1871 South Carolina-1915 Colorado-1889
Minnesota-1885 South Dakota- 1883 Connecticut- 1872 Mississippi-1918 Tennessee-1905
Delaware-1907 Missouri-1905 Texas-1915 District of Columbia-1864 Montana-1883
Utah-1890 Florida-1915 Nebraska-1887 Vermont- 1867 Georgia-1916 Nevada-1873
Virginia-1908 Hawaii-1893 New Hampshire-1871 Washington-1871 Idaho-1887
New Jersey-1875 West Virginia- 1897 Illinois-1883 New Mexico- 1891 Wisconsin-1879
Indiana-1897 New York-1874 Wyoming-1876 Iowa-1902 North Carolina- 1907 Kansas-1874
North Dakota-1883 Kentucky-1896 Ohio-1877
Epidemics in the US 1657-1919
Measles: Boston- 1657,1687,1713,1729,1739/1740,/Connecticut, NY, PA., SC.-1747,North America-1759,1775,
Philadelphia & NY-1788
Yellow Fever: New York 1690, 1803,Philadelphia-1793,1794,1796/1797,1798, Nation wide-1841,1850,1852(8,000 people died of yellow fever in one summer),1855,New Orleans-1847,1878,
Jacksonville Florida-1886
Influenza:World wide-1732,1733,1775,1776,1781,1782,1847,1848,1857,1858,1859,1918( more people were hospitalized during WWI from influenza than from the war. US army training camps succumbed with 80 percent death rate in camp) Vermont-1793, North America & West Indies-17611850,1851,1873,1874,1875, Virginia-1793 (500 people died in 4 weeks.
Bilious disorder:Delaware-1783
Small Pox:South Carolina-1738, Pennsylvania-1860,1861,
Typhus:Philadelphia-1837,Plymouth PA.-1885
Cholera:Nationwide-1831,1832,New York & Major cities-1832,North America-1848,1849, Columbus Ohio-1833, New York City-1834,1849,Cole County Illinois-1851, great plains-1851, Missouri-1851
Unspecified Fever:Pennsylvania-1793,Nationwide-1820,1821,1822,1823
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, and Washington DC experienced a series of recurring epidemics of Small Pox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever and Yellow fever -1865-1873
Tomorrow look for a list of persons from Paterson New Jersey who died in the epidemic of 1849.
Arizona-1899 Maryland- 1902 Pennsylvania-1895 Arkansas-1909 Massachusetts-1852
Rhode Island-1883 California-1874 Michigan-1871 South Carolina-1915 Colorado-1889
Minnesota-1885 South Dakota- 1883 Connecticut- 1872 Mississippi-1918 Tennessee-1905
Delaware-1907 Missouri-1905 Texas-1915 District of Columbia-1864 Montana-1883
Utah-1890 Florida-1915 Nebraska-1887 Vermont- 1867 Georgia-1916 Nevada-1873
Virginia-1908 Hawaii-1893 New Hampshire-1871 Washington-1871 Idaho-1887
New Jersey-1875 West Virginia- 1897 Illinois-1883 New Mexico- 1891 Wisconsin-1879
Indiana-1897 New York-1874 Wyoming-1876 Iowa-1902 North Carolina- 1907 Kansas-1874
North Dakota-1883 Kentucky-1896 Ohio-1877
Epidemics in the US 1657-1919
Measles: Boston- 1657,1687,1713,1729,1739/1740,/Connecticut, NY, PA., SC.-1747,North America-1759,1775,
Philadelphia & NY-1788
Yellow Fever: New York 1690, 1803,Philadelphia-1793,1794,1796/1797,1798, Nation wide-1841,1850,1852(8,000 people died of yellow fever in one summer),1855,New Orleans-1847,1878,
Jacksonville Florida-1886
Influenza:World wide-1732,1733,1775,1776,1781,1782,1847,1848,1857,1858,1859,1918( more people were hospitalized during WWI from influenza than from the war. US army training camps succumbed with 80 percent death rate in camp) Vermont-1793, North America & West Indies-17611850,1851,1873,1874,1875, Virginia-1793 (500 people died in 4 weeks.
Bilious disorder:Delaware-1783
Small Pox:South Carolina-1738, Pennsylvania-1860,1861,
Typhus:Philadelphia-1837,Plymouth PA.-1885
Cholera:Nationwide-1831,1832,New York & Major cities-1832,North America-1848,1849, Columbus Ohio-1833, New York City-1834,1849,Cole County Illinois-1851, great plains-1851, Missouri-1851
Unspecified Fever:Pennsylvania-1793,Nationwide-1820,1821,1822,1823
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, and Washington DC experienced a series of recurring epidemics of Small Pox, Cholera, Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever and Yellow fever -1865-1873
Tomorrow look for a list of persons from Paterson New Jersey who died in the epidemic of 1849.
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