George Hoover & Mary Magdalina (Hoover) Shoemaker

 

Tracing the Children of Jacob Hoover

By Kris Hocker · Modified: 27 Dec 2013

            Jacob² Hoover (Andrew¹) and his wife Anna Maria (___) both died in German Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Jacob died sometime between 13 Aug 1798 when he sold 126 acres of land to John Lance and 8 Sep 1800 when his will was proved—most likely in late August or early September 1800. ^{1, 2} His will named his wife as his executor and the following beneficiaries: wife, Mary, sons and daughters, George Hoover, Elizabeth Simes [Shinn], Cathrine Shoemaker, Margaret Smith, Mary Choffin [Chafin], Magdalina Shoemaker, Rosanna Hoover, Barbra Bakert [Bacus], Rachail Hoover, Jemimah Hoover, Hanna Hoover. The witnesses were Abraham Stuart, James Wilson and Michael Cox.

            Anna Maria (___) Hoover died sometime between 2 Dec 1808 and 20 Dec 1808. She named George and Joseph Hoover as her executors. Her beneficiaries were: son George, Jacob Hoover son of George; daughters: Hannah Hoover, Rachel Gray, Elizabeth Shines [Shinn], Catherine Shoemaker, Madelina Shoemaker, Margaret Smith, Mary Chafin, Barbary Barcus [Bacus], Rozannah Hoover, Jemima Bowman; granddaughter Milly Shines [Shinn], Elizabeth daughter of Hannah Hoover.³ The witnesses were George Vance and Samuel Gordon.

            Based on these documents, Jacob and Anna Maria (___) Hoover had children:

1. Catharine³ Hoover married John Schumacher/Shoemaker.
2. George Hoover married Elizabeth Garrison.
3. Mary Magdalina Hoover married Johann Adam Schumacher/Shoemaker.
4. Elizabeth Hoover married George Shinn, perhaps the brother of Nicholas Shinn who owned property adjacent to her father’s.⁴
5. Margaret Hoover married Unknown Smith, likely Godfrey Smith of Redstone, Pennsylvania.
6. Mary Hoover married Unknown Chafin.
7. Rosanna Hoover
8. Barbara Hoover married Peter Baccus.
9. Hannah Hoover, baptized on 11 Sep 1783 at Jacob’s Lutheran and Reformed Church in German Township, married circa 1800 Joseph Hoover, perhaps the son of one of her uncles, John or Andrew Hoover Jr.⁵
10. Rachel Hoover married James Gray.
11. Jemima Hoover married Unknown Bowman.

So, what happened to these children?

Catharine (Hoover) Shoemaker

            John Shoemaker is found in German Township, Fayette County in the 1790 U.S. Census.⁶ The household had 1 male (>16), 4 males (<16), and 1 female. John Shoemaker is also found in the township in 1800: 1 male (45+), 2 males (16-25), 2 males (10-15), 1 female (26-44), and 1 female (10-15).⁷ By 1810, John Shoemaker and family had moved to Breckinridge County, Kentucky.⁸

George Hoover

            George Hoover is found in German Township, Fayette County in the 1790 U.S. Census.⁹ The household had 1 male (>16), 1 male (<16), and 1 female. He is no longer listed there in 1800. However, he is listed in tax lists for Ohio County by 10 Sep 1800.¹⁰ In 1810, George Hoover is found in Ohio County, Kentucky.¹¹ The family had in the household: 1 male (45+), 2 males (16-25), 1 male (10-15), 2 males (<10), 1 female (26-44), 2 females (10-15), and 2 females (<10).  [Note: One researcher says George Hoover died in 1830; and that George & Elizabeth had a daughter named Mildred Millie Hoover (1802-1841) who married Aaron Atherton.] [Note: Another researcher says George Garrison Hoover was born in Ohio County in 1807 and died 1870, and that he married Sarah “Sally” Byers.] [A third researcher says George and Elizabeth had ten children: Jacob, Leonard, Mary Polly Jane, Mildred Millie, Jonathan, George garrison, Elizabeth James, Sally Ann, John Cicero, and Susan A. – all children born between 1790 and 1814.]

Mary Magdalina (Hoover) Shoemaker

            Adam Shoemaker is found in the 1810 U.S. census for Ohio County, Kentucky. ¹² The household contained 1 male (45+) and one female (45+).  [Note:  This couple does not show up in later census records for Ohio County.  I did find a Mary M. Shoemaker in the 1860 census, age 86, so born about 1774 in PA, living in Fulton County, PA with her adult son, David, but there is no certainty this is the same person. Also, a Mary Shoemaker, a widow, died in PA May 1850 & she was born in PA about 1770]

Elizabeth (Hoover) Shinn

            George Shinn and family are found in the 1800 U.S. census for Whiteley Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania. ¹³ The household included: 1 male (45+), 1 male (10-15), 1 female (16-25), 1 female (10-15). In 1810, the family was enumerated in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.¹⁴ In the household were 2 males (45+), 1 male (16-25), and 1 female (10-15). Elizabeth died prior to 6 Jan 1817, and may have likely died prior to the 1810 census enumeration.¹⁵

Margaret (Hoover) Smith

            Godfrey Smith is found in German Township, Fayette County in the 1790 U.S. Census.¹⁶ The household had 1 male (>16), 1 male (<16), and 2 females. Godfrey’s daughter Emily “Milly” married Jacob Bacus, son of Peter Bacus, on 27 Jan 1816 in Scioto County, Ohio.¹⁷ By 1819, Godfrey was living in Greenup County, Kentucky.¹⁸ They are found in this county in the 1820 U.S. census enumeration.¹⁹ The household included: 1 male (45+), 1 male (16-26), 1 male (16-18), 1 male (10-16), 1 female (45+), 1 female (16-26), 1 female (10-16), 1 female (<10). The family is still in Greenup County in 1830.²⁰

Barbara (Hoover) Baccus

            Peter Bacus and family were in Green Township, Scioto County, Ohio by 1820 and may have been there even earlier.²¹ The family included: 1 male (45+), 1 male (16-26), 3 males (<10), 1 female (45+), and 2 females (10-16). The family is still there in 1830: 1 male (60-70), 1 male (15-20), 2 males (10-15), 1 female (60-70), and 1 female (20-30).²²

Hannah (Hoover) Hoover

            Joseph Hoover is found in German Township, Fayette County in the 1800 U.S. census.²³ The household consisted of 1 male (16-25) and 1 female (16-25). The family is also there in 1810.²⁴ The household consisted of: 1 male (26-44), 1 male (10-15), 1 male (<5), 1 female (16-25), 1 female (10-15), and 1 female (<5). Joseph Hoover is listed in township tax records from 1800 through 1816 when he and wife Hannah sold the 75 acres they inherited from Mary Hoover to Hugh Gilmore.²⁵

Rachel (Hoover) Gray

            In 1808, James Gray was living in German Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania on a portion of the Hoover’s property. Mary Hoover gave this part of the property to her daughter Rachel in her will.²⁶ I did not find James Gray in the Fayette County census records. However, there is a James Gray living adjacent Godfrey and Jacob Smith in Greenup County, Kentucky in 1820.²⁷ The household includes: 1 male (26-45), 1 male (16-26), 4 males (<10), 1 female (45+), 1 female (16-26), and 2 females (<10). This could be the James and Rachel (Hoover) Gray family.

Footnotes

1.         Toothman, Rick, Monongalia County, West Virginia Deedbook 1784—1810 (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books Inc., 1994), page 70, “13 Aug 1798, Jacob & Mary Hoover, Fayette Co. PA to John Lantz of Greene Co. PA 126A near the PA line on the North side of Dunker Creek, adjoining Nicholas Shins. No Wits. Recorded OS 1:521.” 

 

2.         Jacob Hoover Last Will & Testament, Fayette County Wills, Book 1: 50, written 24 Aug 1797, probated 8 Sep 1800 

 

3.         Mary Hoover Last Will & Testament, Fayette County Wills, Book 1: 124, written 2 Dec 1808, probated 20 Dec 1808 

 

4.         Zinn, Monongalia County (West) Virginia Court Records; George Shinn is identified as the son-in-law of Jacob Hoover 

 

5.         Ruff, Paul Miller, Jacobs Lutheran and Reformed Church, German Township, Fayette County (Greensburg, PA: Baltzer Meyer Historical Society, 1998) 

 

6.         John Shoemaker household, 1790 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, German Township, page 37; National Archives micropublication M637, roll 8. 

 

7.         John Shoemaker household, 1800 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, German Township, page 540; National Archives micropublication M32, roll 38. 

 

8.         John Shoemaker Sr. household, 1810 United States Federal Census, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, page 322; National Archives micropublication M252, roll 5 

 

9.         George Hoover household, 1790 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, German Township, page 34; National Archives micropublication M637, roll 8.

 

10.       Hoover, Luella Schaumburg, “Some Descendants of Andrew Hoover” (typescript; State Library, Pennsylvania), page 23 

 

11.       George Hoover household, 1810 United States Federal Census, Ohio County, Kentucky, Ohio Township, page 74; National Archives micropublication M252, roll 8. 

 

12.       Adam Shoemaker household, 1810 United States Federal Census, Ohio County, Kentucky, Ohio Township, page 96; National Archives micropublication M252, roll 8. 

 

13.       George Shins household, 1800 United States Census, Greene County, Pennsylvania, Whiteley Township, page 23; National Archives micropublication M32, roll 40 

 

14.       George Shins Sr. household, 1810 United States Federal Census, Greene County, Pennsylvania, Wayne Township, page 32; National Archives micropublication M252, roll 49 

 

15.       George Shintz will (#359), Green County Will Book 1: n/a 

 

16.       Godfrey Smith household, 1790 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, German Township, page 37; National Archives micropublication M637, roll 8. 

 

17.       Shoemaker, Caryn R. and Rudity, Betty J. Sisler, Scioto County, Ohio Marriages (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987) 

 

18.       Godfrey Smith Revolutionary War pension file (#S37426), transcription 

 

19.       Godfrey Smith household, 1820 United States Census, Greenup County, Kentucky (not stated), page 184; National Archives micropublication M33, roll 21. 

 

20.       Godfrey Smith household, 1830 United States census, Greenup County, Kentucky, not stated, page 62; National Archives micropublication M19, roll 37.

 

21.       Peter Bachus household, 1820 United States Census, Scioto County, Ohio, Green Township, page 135; National Archives micropublication M33, roll 95. 

 

22.       Peter Bachus household, 1830 United States Census, Scioto County, Ohio, Green Township, page 91; National Archives micropublication M19, roll 140. 

 

23.       Joseph Hoover household, 1800 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania (German Township), page 536; National Archives micropublication M32, roll 38.

 

24.       Joseph Hoover household, 1810 United States Census, Fayette County, Pennsylvania (German Township), page 712; National Archives micropublication M252, roll 54. 

 

25.       Joseph Hoover to Hugh Gilmore (1816), Fayette County Deed Book L:40.

 

26.       Mary Hoover Last Will & Testament, Fayette County Wills, Book 1: 124, written 2 Dec 1808, probated 20 Dec 1808.

 

27.       James Gray household, 1820 United States Census, Greenup County, Kentucky(not stated), page 184; National Archives micropublication M33, roll 21. 

Old Disease Names

 

Old Disease Names Frequently found on Death Certificates

Ablepsy - Blindness

Ague - Malarial Fever

American plague - Yellow fever

Anasarca - Generalized massive edema

Aphonia - Laryngitis

Aphtha - The infant disease "thrush"

Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke

Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen

Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size.

Bad Blood - Syphilis

Bilious fever - Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis

Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease

Black plague or death - Bubonic plague

Black fever - Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate

Black pox - Black Small pox

Black vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever

Blackwater fever - Dark urine associated with high temperature

Bladder in throat - Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates)

Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia

Bloody flux - Bloody stools

Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness

Bone shave - Sciatica

Brain fever - Meningitis

Breakbone - Dengue fever

Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys

Bronze John - Yellow fever

Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling

Cachexy - Malnutrition

Cacogastric - Upset stomach

Cacospysy - Irregular pulse

Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy

Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea

Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia

Canker - Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex

Catalepsy - Seizures / trances

Catarrhal - Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy

Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning

Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold

Child bed fever - Infection following birth of a child

Chin cough - Whooping cough

Chlorosis - Iron deficiency anemia

Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing

Cholera morbus - Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature, etc. Could be appendicitis

Cholecystitus - Inflammation of the gall bladder

Cholelithiasis - Gall stones

Chorea - Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing

Cold plague - Ague which is characterized by chills

Colic - An abdominal pain and cramping

Congestive chills - Malaria

Consumption - Tuberculosis

Congestion - Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs

Congestive chills - Malaria with diarrhea

Congestive fever - Malaria

Corruption - Infection

Coryza - A cold

Costiveness - Constipation

Cramp colic - Appendicitis

Crop sickness - Overextended stomach

Croup - Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat

Cyanosis - Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood

Cynanche - Diseases of throat

Cystitis - Inflammation of the bladder

Day fever - Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness

Debility - Lack of movement or staying in bed

Decrepitude - Feebleness due to old age

Delirium tremens - Hallucinations due to alcoholism

Dengue - Infectious fever endemic to East Africa

Dentition - Cutting of teeth

Deplumation - Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss

Diary fever - A fever that lasts one day

Diptheria - Contagious disease of the throat

Distemper - Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia

Dock fever - Yellow fever

Dropsy - Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease

Dropsy of the Brain - Encephalitis

Dry Bellyache - Lead poisoning

Dyscrasy - An abnormal body condition

Dysentery - Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood

Dysorexy - Reduced appetite

Dyspepsia - Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms

Dysury - Difficulty in urination

Eclampsy - Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor

Ecstasy - A form of catalepsy characterized by loss of reason

Edema - Nephrosis; swelling of tissues

Edema of lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy

Eel thing - Erysipelas

Elephantiasis - A form of leprosy

Encephalitis - Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness

Enteric fever - Typhoid fever

Enterocolitis - Inflammation of the intestines

Enteritis - Inflations of the bowels

Epitaxis - Nose bleed

Erysipelas - Contagious skin disease, due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions

Extravasted blood - Rupture of a blood vessel

Falling sickness - Epilepsy

Fatty Liver - Cirrhosis of liver

Fits - Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity

Flux - An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea

Flux of humour - Circulation

French pox - Syphilis

Gathering - A collection of pus

Glandular fever - Mononucleosis

Great pox - Syphilis

Green fever / sickness - Anemia

Grippe/grip - Influenza like symptoms

Grocer's itch - Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour

Heart Sickness - Condition caused by loss of salt from body

Heat Stroke - Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature. Coma and death result if not reversed

Hectical Complaint - Recurrent fever

Hematemesis - Vomiting blood

Hematuria - Bloody urine

Hemiplegy - Paralysis of one side of body

Hip Gout - Osteomylitis

Horrors - Delirium tremens

Hydrocephalus - Enlarged head, water on the brain

Hydropericardium - Heart dropsy

Hydrophobia - Rabies

Hydrothroax - Dropsy in chest

Hypertrophic - Enlargement of organ, like the heart

Impetigo - Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules

Inanition - Physical condition resulting from lack of food

Infantile Paralysis - Polio Intestinal colic Abdominal pain due to improper diet

Jail Fever - Typhus

Jaundice - Condition caused by blockage of intestines

King's Evil - Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands

Kruchhusten - Whooping cough

Lagrippe - Influenza.

Lockjaw - Tetanus or infectious disease affecting the muscles of the neck and jaw. Untreated, it is fatal in 8 days.

Long Sickness - Tuberculosis.

Lues Disease - Syphilis.

Lues Venera - Venereal disease.

Lumbago - Back pain.

Lung Fever - Pneumonia

Lung Sickness - Tuberculosis

Lying in - Time of delivery of infant.

Malignant Sore Throat - Diphtheria.

Mania - Insanity.

Marasmus - Progressive wasting away of body, like malnutrition.

Membranous - Croup Diphtheria

Meningitis - Inflations of brain or spinal cord

Metritis - Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge

Miasma - Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air

Milk Fever - Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever or brucellosis

Milk Leg - Post partum thrombophlebitis

Milk Sickness - Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds

Mormal - Gangrene

Morphew - Scurvy blisters on the body

Mortification - Gangrene of necrotic tissue

Myelitis - Inflammation of the spine

Myocarditis - Inflammation of heart muscles

Necrosis - Mortification of bones or tissue

Nephrosis - Kidney degeneration

Nepritis - Inflammation of kidneys

Nervous Prostration - Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities

Neuralgia - Described as discomfort, such as "Headache" was neuralgia in head

Nostalgia - Homesickness.

Palsy - Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. It was listed as "Cause of death"

Paroxysm - Convulsion

Pemphigus - Skin disease of watery blisters

Pericarditis - Inflammation of heart

Peripneumonia - Inflammation of lungs

Peritonotis - Inflammation of abdominal area

Petechial Fever - Fever characterized by skin spotting

Phthiriasis - Lice infestation Phthisis Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis

Plague - An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate

Pleurisy - Any pain in the chest area with each breath

Podagra - Gout

Poliomyelitis  - Polio

Potter's Asthma - Fibroid pthisis

Pott's Disease - Tuberculosis of spine

Puerperal Exhaustion - Death due to childbirth

Puerperal Fever - Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant

Puking Fever - Milk sickness

Putrid Fever - Diphtheria.

Quinsy - Tonsillitis.

Remitting Fever - Malaria

Rheumatism - Any disorder associated with pain in joints Rickets Disease of skeletal system

Rose Cold - Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy.

Rotanny Fever - (Child's disease) ???

Rubeola - German measles

Sanguineous Crust - Scab

Scarlatina - Scarlet fever

Scarlet Fever - A disease characterized by red rash

Scarlet Rash - Roseola

Sciatica Rheumatism in the hips

Scirrhus - Cancerous tumors

Scotomy - Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight

Scrivener's palsy - Writer's cramp

Screws - Rheumatism

Scrofula - Tuberculosis of neck lymph glands. Progresses slowly with abscesses and fistulas develop. Young person's disease

Scrumpox - Skin disease, impetigo

Scurvy - Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums and hemorrhages under skin

Septicemia - Blood poisoning

Shakes - Delirium tremens

Shaking - Chills, ague

Shingles - Viral disease with skin blisters

Ship Fever - Typhus

Siriasis - Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure

Sloes - Milk sickness Small pox Contagious disease with fever and blisters Softening of brain Result of stroke or hemorrhage in the brain, with an end result of the tissue softening in that area

Sore Throat Distemper - Diphtheria or quinsy

Spanish Influenza - Epidemic influenza

Spasms - Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles, like a convulsion

Spina Bifida - Deformity of spine

Spotted Fever - Either typhus or meningitis

Sprue - Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat

St. Anthony's Fire - Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas are bright red in appearance

St. Vitas Dance - Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary

Stomatitis - Inflammation of the mouth

Stranger's Fever - Yellow fever

Strangery - Rupture

Sudor Anglicus - Sweating sickness

Summer Complaint - Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk.

Sunstroke - Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment heat.  Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause.

Swamp Sickness - Could be malaria, typhoid or encephalitis

Sweating Sickness - Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century

Tetanus - Infectious fever characterized by high fever, headache and dizziness

Thrombosis - Blood clot inside blood vessel

Thrush - Childhood disease characterized by spots on mouth, lips and throat

Tick Fever - Rocky mountain spotted fever

Toxemia of Pregnancy - Eclampsia

Trench Mouth - Painful ulcers found along gum line, Caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene

Tussis Convulsiva - Whooping cough

Typhus - Infectious fever characterized high fever, headache, and dizziness

Variola - Smallpox

Venesection - Bleeding

Viper's Dance - St. Vitus Dance

Water on Brain - Enlarged head

White Swelling - Tuberculosis of the bone

Winter Fever - Pneumonia

Womb Fever - Infection of the uterus.

Worm Fit - Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea.

Yellowjacket - Yellow fever.

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.

SMALLPOX EPIDEMICS

 SMALLPOX EPIDEMICS 

          In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there were several national alarms about smallpox and from time-to-time epidemic levels of the disease were reported throughout the entire nation. Kentucky suffered an epidemic level of smallpox in 1900 with hundreds of people stricken. The mortality rate was 20% and health authorities demanded that every person in the state be vaccinated.  On Feb 3, 1900, newspapers reported that smallpox was at an epidemic level in thirty-five counties in Kentucky.  By December 21, 1900, the news was that smallpox was at epidemic level in only sixteen counties in the State.  Smallpox continued to be an annual problem in Kentucky for roughly ten years.  

          By 1903, anyone in the Commonwealth of Kentucky who had been exposed to smallpox and was liable to take the disease and refused to seclude himself was subject to be taken to any justice of the peace of the county and confined in some secluded place (at the time these places of confinement were called "pest houses"), at his own expense, until such time that the disease has passed through or until the person was released by the Board of Health. Every person in Kentucky counties, including children over the age of three months, who has not been inoculated with the smallpox vaccine was required to be vaccinated immediately. If families were unable to pay the fee for the smallpox vaccination then families were encouraged to inform their physician who would inform that county who would pay the fee(s) for the vaccination. Any person who had smallpox and went upon the streets, highways, or elsewhere, so as to expose others to the disease, was subject to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars. Anyone who refused to obey any of the rules and regulations of the Board of Health was to be fined not less than ten dollars and not more than one hundred dollars.

    In February 1913 the following was published:

Source: Taliaferro Clark. (1913). Smallpox in Kentucky: A Report of an Investigation of the Prevalence of the Disease at Points on the Green River. Public Health Reports (1896-1970), 28(8), 340-345. doi:10.2307/4569272

Clips from the Hartford Herald from 1900: 

March 21 – Miss Hatler, daughter of Mr. Martin Hatler, living near Rosine, has been stricken with smallpox. We understand there are only four cases of this disease in Beaver Dam at present. 

March 21 – Central City is having a smallpox scare. There are now 17 cases in town. 

March 22 – Mr. Sam Lake has the small-pox. 

April 11 - Mrs. Shelby Taylor and little son High Edwin have recovered from smallpox and there are no signs of the disease in Hartford, except Mr. Taylor himself.  However, there is a case in Hayti, the colored settlement one mile north-east of Hartford. Quarantine measures will at once be taken by the town trustees and the disease stamped out.

 

Tuberculosis

 

            

          By the mid-1800's, tuberculosis had reached epidemic levels in Europe and the United States, including the rural areas like Ohio County. The disease attacked the lungs and damaged other organs.  Before the advent of antibiotics, its victims slowly wasted away, becoming pale and thin before finally dying of what was then known as "consumption" and sometimes referred to as "flux."

           During that time, consumption was thought to be caused by hereditary susceptibility and miasmas, or “bad airs,” in the environment. Among the upper class, one of the ways people judged a woman’s predisposition to tuberculosis was by her attractiveness.

 

            In 1869 a French physician demonstrated that the disease was indeed contagious, conducting an experiment in which Tuberculosis matter from human cadavers was injected into laboratory rabbits, which then became infected. On 24 March 1882, Dr. Robert Koch, a Prussian physician, revealed the disease was caused by an infectious agent.  Treatment was guesswork and varied, but rest was prescribed by most doctors.  Sanatoriums were used to isolate patients until the mid-twentieth century.

 

            We have all been to Mammoth Cave.  But you might not know that in 1842 Dr. John Groghan opened a treatment facility for tuberculosis patients inside the cave, thinking that the cool and pure air would help the patients recover from the disease. The patients lived in 10 wooden cottages about a mile and a half inside the cave.  The cottages measured 12 x 18 feet and canvas roofs.  Two more cottages were built of stone.  About 15 people became patients but the experiment failed after several deaths and the facility was closed within five months.  See the article below for more details.

 

            Vaccines were developed in Europe as early as 1906 but were not accepted and used widely until after WWII. Some say the true revolution of the war against Tuberculosis started in 1952 with the development of an oral drug and then in the 1980’s a drug called Rifampin hastened recovery time.  It is thought that the decline in mortality from infectious diseases has been caused by an improved standard of living, particularly by better nutrition, and by better hygiene, and less by medical intervention. Tuberculosis still rages throughout the world, including the United States, with about 1.4 million deaths last year.  It is a global pandemic that is transmitted almost exactly like the COVID-19 virus (coughing and sneezing). The difference is that Tuberculosis is bacterial and can be treated with antibiotics. 

 

            It is not known how many people died in Ohio County (or Kentucky) of tuberculosis in the 1800’s as death records are minimal and physicians did not understand the disease.  Death certificates did not start using death certificates statewide until 1911.  Before that counties recorded deaths in the county courthouse in a manner similar to the way marriages and births were recorded, but only if some one (a family member) reported the event to a county official. Ancestry.com has a database of Kentucky deaths from 1852 through 1910.  The county records were microfilmed in the 1980’s by the State government, however some records from Ohio County are missing – probably due to Courthouse fires. Here is the first page from the 1852 microfilm records:

            The next to last column states the cause of death.  On this page the word “Flux” is found four times; the word “Consumption” is found five times; and the word “Fever” is found twenty-three times.  Also, “Cold chills” is used and “Cough” is used.  So you can see that it would be impossible to determine how many of those deaths was actually from Tuberculosis or any other specific disease.

            Age of death is the second column and that is easier to read. Sadly, most were young.  From the top the ages are 1 yr, 13 yrs, 1 year, 4 mos., 23, 35, 18, 15, 18 mos., etc.  On the entire page of fifty-five names there are only nine deaths listed for anyone age 40 or older.

            As you can see below, Tuberculosis remained a big problem during the first half of the 1900’s in Kentucky.

Hidden History: Tuberculosis in Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky is home to the world’s longest known cave system. The system of chambers and subterranean passageways reflects the park’s extensive and varied history. In 1839, Dr. John Croghan of Louisville, Kentucky, who suffered from tuberculosis, purchased the Mammoth Cave property for $10,000. At a time when minimal medical knowledge of or treatments existed for the “white plague,” a leading cause of death in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Dr. Croghan was interested in the cave in part as a possible sanitarium.

Visitors and miners had reported feeling distinctly well after spending time in the cave and Horace Carter Hovey wrote that “the air is slightly exhilarating, and sustains one in a ramble of five or ten hours, so that at its end he is hardly sensible of fatigue.” Further, having observed that timber and animals did not decay within the cave, Dr. Croghan hoped the environment would be restorative and therapeutic for tuberculosis patients and subsequently established an experimental hospital treatment facility within the cave.

Believing the uniform temperature and humidity held curative properties, Dr. Croghan invited 15 patients under his care to take up residence in the cave in the winter of 1842. Patients resided within a series of buildings constructed by enslaved individuals, including two stone cabins and eight simple wooden structures measuring 12 x 18 feet with tongue and groove flooring and canvas roofs.

Away from the rhythms of natural light, patients synced their watches with the outside world and managed their daily underground routines accordingly. Living within the cave, patients initially seemed to improve and Dr. Croghan enthusiastically began to draw up plans for a hotel to be established within the cave to house the anticipated masses that would flock to the cave for healing.

However, as winter progressed, it became clear that the dank, dark conditions worsened the patients’ symptoms. Smoke and ash from lard oil lanterns and a large fire used to light the cave continuously filled the chambers while the dampness of the air further degraded damaged lungs. Cedar trees and bushes brought in to lighten the atmosphere quickly withered. While some cooking was completed within the cave, other meals were prepared off-site by enslaved individuals and brought into the cave. A server named Alfred noted, “I used to stand on that rock and blow the horn to call them to dinner. There were fifteen of them and they looked more like a company of skeletons than anything else.”

A Public Attraction

Tours of Mammoth Cave had begun in 1816. The tourist infrastructure developed over the next several decades, including the expansion and remodeling of the existing hotel and creation of new roads by Dr. Croghan. These improvements and public tours of the cave system continued during the medical experiment. Unsuspecting visitors would occasionally encounter ghastly patients in hospital gowns shuffling along passageways or hear hollow coughing echoing in the distance.

In a letter, patient H.P. Anderson wrote that “There are many things to be done to render this place entirely pleasant and to give its virtues a fair test; we are pioneers under all the disadvantages of such and after generations will reap benefits of our experiments.” As complaints and requests to leave arose, Anderson was the only individual to return to the surface while Dr. Croghan convinced the remaining patients to stay.

As the weeks wore on, five patients ultimately died inside the cave, their bodies laid out on what is now known as corpse rock. Dr. Croghan despondently returned to the surface with the remaining survivors. The experiment was not repeated and the wood frame huts were dismantled, while the two stone cottages remain along Broadway within the Mammoth Cave Historic District.

The experiment lasted no more than five months, from autumn 1842 to early 1843. While the cool cave setting conformed to the treatment standards of the times, the unventilated, damp environment made the disease worse. Like his patients, Dr. Croghan ultimately passed of tuberculosis in 1849.

“Groping for Health in Mammoth Cave,” Filson Club History Quarterly, 20: 4, 302-307, Louisville, Oct., 1946.