I'd start with

Duffy, John, 1915-    Epidemics in colonial America.    Baton
Rouge, Louisiana State University Press [1953]
-- 
Jon Kukla
www.JonKukla.com

On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM, Stephen Ballard
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:



> I've been working on a family history and just realized that a fair number
> of distant cousins and their associates in Virginia all died in 1719.  For
> example, Matthew Ballard of York county wrote a will 10 May 1719, recorded
> 17 May 1719; his brother William Ballard died intestate, the administration
> of his estate recorded 21 September 1719; Francis Ballard of Elizabeth City
> county (their uncle) wrote a will 10 March 1719, recorded 16 March 1719;
> Francis' wife Mary Servant died 10 March 1719.  A close associate, James
> Hubard, left a will dated 12 January 1719, recorded 15 February 1719.
>
> I suspect there some sort of epidemic making the rounds -- influenza,
> yellow fever, typhus, etc.  I've been poking around the web and learned that
> there was a terrible plague in Marseille in 1720, and I understand illnesses
> arising in London would turn up later in port cities like Charleston,
> Boston, etc. (and vice versa).   I've never read anything about such a thing
> happening in Virginia.  Can anyone shed light on this, or recommend a good
> reference book on the subject?
>
> Stephen M. Ballard
> Saxe, Virginia
>
>
>
>
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