Cholera

Asiatic Cholera in Kentucky 1832 to 1873

Nancy Baird, Western Kentucky University

Publication Date

5-1972

 

          Asiatic cholera has been called the scourge of the nineteenth century, for it caused the untimely death of millions throughout the world. During its four visits to the United States, unknown thousands of Kentuckians fell victims to the disease. In attempting to prevent the dreaded scourge, Kentuckians became more conscious of the need for cleaner cities, pure water and adequate sewage disposal. Modern waterworks facilities, sewage treatment and disposal facilities have provided the means by which the United States has conquered this scourge of the nineteenth century, for with these facilities cholera is the easiest of all communicable diseases to prevent. But, as with the eradication of any disease, constant vigilance and continued use of modern scientific knowledge are necessary to prevent its return. The disease is presently ravaging India and the Far East, and with modern jet travel it could bypass quarantine stations and enter the United States undetected. The “seeds” of the pestilence could be sown across the nation within a few hours. The only safeguard is modern sanitation facilities, for no permanent inoculation or miraculous cure has been developed. Today many rural areas of Kentucky and other states use wells and old cisterns that are, or could easily become, contaminated by human fecal matter. A fifth visit from cholera should not be necessary to correct the ignorance and complacent attitudes concerning inadequate sanitation facilities that exist in these areas of the nation. This study attempts to show the horrors of cholera’s four visits to Kentucky, and how the fear of the disease stimulated interest in public health. 

1832-1835 

        1832: Oct & Nov   122 deaths Louisville; also Maysville, Frankfort, Bardstown, and Lexington. A heavy frost in mid-November seemed to kill the disease. 

        1833:  In early summer the disease reappeared in Maysville with a dozen deaths within 24 hours.  Ninety percent of the citizens of Maysville fled the town for two weeks.  By mid-June 60 people had died in the Maysville area.  Traveling via Mayville’s fleeing refugees, cholera soon infected Lexington; by early June 27 deaths from cholera were reported and soon were 50 per day.  One-third of the citizens of Lexington fled, some taking the disease with them to other Kentucky towns, including Louisville. 

          By spring 1834 the disease had traveled to the southern part of the state with Bowling Green reporting cases and also the Green River towns reporting cases.  Russellville was the hardest hit with 147 people dying within a three week period in the summer of 1835. 

          Businesses were closed; towns became vacant; farmers abandoned their crops for lack of laborers. Mail didn’t run because the steamships were docked.  It was impossible to get food.  Doctors were overworked and some fled themselves.  Survivors lived in poverty and children were left as orphans.

 

1849-1854 

          In the spring of 1849 cholera reappeared in Kentucky, starting first at Covington.  The steamboat was the main carrier of the disease into and throughout Kentucky.  Louisville reported the first cases in May, 1849 and returning in July, 1850 and remained as constant threat until the fall of 1854. 

          Other cities hit hard were Lexington, Frankfort, Brandenburg, Millersburg, Maysville, Hopkinsville, Bowling Green, Glasgow, Owensboro (more than 30 deaths), and more.  Then for some reason cholera left  the US in the winter of 1854. 

1866 and 1873 

          The final two visits of cholera were in 1866 and 1873.  In 1866, following the Civil War, cholera appeared in the Army barracks in Louisville where soldiers had just arrived from New York.  Of approximately 400 men stationed there, 36 cases developed and 23 died.  A few months later some soldiers were transferred to Bowling Green and the disease went with them. While the Army ended up with more than 700 fatal cases, the civilian population was not seriously impacted in 1866.  By then physicians in Europe had tracked the disease to dirty areas and unclean water, so cities were doing their best to clean all standing water and areas of filth.  Hygiene was preached at the pulpit and in the newspapers. 

          In 1873 cholera made a final visit to Kentucky.  It is thought that Kentucky suffered more than any other state in the nation.  In May cholera was found in Paducah, arriving on a steam boat and, eventually, killing more than 180 citizens.  Henderson also reported cases, as was Bowling Green, Woodburn, Franklin, Elizabethtown, Lagrange, and Millersburg. 

          Ohio County was largely spared from the main cholera epidemics.  Although local newspaper records are not available for 1832-35, 1849-54, 1866, and 1873, Ancestry.com does have microfilm of some of the death records starting in 1852.  We know the listed “Cause of Death” in these records is, more often than not, inaccurate because often doctors were not present at the time of death and relatives simply gave their opinion – almost no science was involved. Some deaths show “cause unknown,” and “Fever” is listed many times, so I suspect there were more deaths from Cholera than listed. 

Deaths from Cholera listed for Ohio County: 

1852 

28 Jan -  Eliza Bracher, age 3 mos  (sp?) 

22 June – Charles Sharp, age 60 and Charles Stewart, age 44 

26 July – Gardner Lundell, age 39 and Elizabeth Lundall, age 32 (sp?) 

28 July - three people (2 children), all Lundall relatives 

29 July –  4 year old child of John & Sarah Chamblee 

19 Aug -  Jacob Fulkerson, age 1 

29 Aug – Nancy Brown, age 59 

Sept 8 – Daniel Lebraus, age 18  (sp?) 

25 Sept – male child, age 9 

Oct 8 -  Stephen Collier, age 38 

29 Dec – infant child of John & Sarah Chamblee

 

1853 

3 Feb – Isabel Rouselberg, age 6 mos  (sp?)

 

1854 

3 Nov  - Levy Jewell, age 22

 

Note:  The records for 1866 and 1873 are not available.

This cemetery is not from Ohio County. It is found in Sandusky, Ohio. I included it as proof of the Cholera pandemic that swept through the nation during 1849-1854.  More than 400 people died in Sandusky during 1849; Sandusky only had a population of about 4,000 - 6,000 residents at that time.