Misc. Info

In case you ever wondered why a large number of your ancestors 
disappeared during a certain period in history, this might help.
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 Sates 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            Conn., NY, PA & SC:  Measles
1759            North America (areas inhabited by whites)
1761            North America & West Indies:  Influenza
1772            North America:  Measles
1775            North America (especially New England):  Epidemic (unknown)
1775-76         Worldwide:  Influenza  (one of the worst 
                     flu epidemics) 
1788            Philadelphia and NY:  Measles 
1793            Vermont:  Influenza and a "putrid fever" 
1793            Virginia:  Influenza (killed 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  (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, DC:  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 for 
                    Influenza than wounds.  US Army 
                    training camps became death     
                    camps, with 80% death rate in   
                    some camps.
Finally, these specific instances of cholera were mentioned:
1833            Columbus, OH
1834            New York City
1849            New York
1851            Coles County, IL
1851            The Great Plains
1851            Missouri