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 States are listed below:

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Years	Area	Epidemic
1628-1631	New England	Small Pox
1638	New England	Small Pox & Spotted Fever
1648-1649	Massachusetts Bay Colony	Small Pox
1657-1658	Boston	Measles
1659	Massachusetts Bay Colony	Throat Distemper
1677-1678	Charlestown & Boston	Small Pox
1679-1680	Virginia	Small Pox
1687	Boston	Measles
1689-1690	New England	Small Pox
1690	New York	Yellow Fever
1693	Boston, MA	Yellow Fever
1696	Jamestown, VA	Small Pox
1699	Charleston & Philadelphia	Yellow Fever
Mar 1699	South Carolina	Small Pox
1702	New York	Yellow Fever
1702-1703	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1706	Charleston	Yellow Fever
1711-1712	South Carolina	Small Pox
1713	Boston	Measles
1715-1725	Most of the Colonies	Small Pox
1721	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1723-1730	Boston, New York, Philadelphia	Small Pox
1729	Boston	Measles
1732	Charleston & New York	Yellow Fever
1732-3	Worldwide	Influenza
1735-1740	New England	Small Pox, Scarlet Fever & Diphtheria
1734	Virginia	Yellow Fever
1738	South Carolina	Smallpox
1739-40	Boston	Measles
1741	Virginia	Yellow Fever
1747	CT,NY,PA,SC	Measles
1752	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1759	N. Amer [areas inhabited by white people]	Measles
1760-1761	Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachussetts, Charleston	Small Pox
1761	N. Amer and West Indies	Influenza
1762	Philadelphia	Yellow Fever
1763	Philadelphia	Throat Distemper
1764	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1769	New York	Throat Distemper
1772	N. America	Measles
1772-1774	New England	Small Pox
1775	N. Amer [especially hard in NE]	epidemic Unknown
1775-6	Worldwide [one of the worst epidemics]	Influenza
1776	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1778	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1783	Dover, DE ["extremely fatal"]	Bilious Disorder
1788	Philadelphia and New York	Measles
1792	Boston, MA	Small Pox
1793	Vermont	[a "putrid" fever] and Influenza
1793	VA [killed 500 in 5 counties in 4 weeks]	Influenza
1793	Philadelphia [one of the worst epidemics]	Yellow Fever
1793	Harrisburg, PA [many unexplained deaths]	Unknown
1793	Middletown, PA [many mysterious deaths]	Unknown
1794	Philadelphia, PA	Yellow Fever
1796-7	Philadelphia, PA	Yellow Fever
1798	Philadelphia, PA [one of the worst]	Yellow Fever
1803	New York	Yellow Fever
1820-3	Nationwide [starts-Schuylkill River and spreads]	"Fever"
1831-2	Nationwide [brought by English emigrants]	Asiatic Cholera
1832	NY City and other major cities	Cholera
1833	Columbus, OH	Cholera
1834	New York City	Cholera
1837	Philadelphia	Typhus
1841	Nationwide [especially severe in the south]	Yellow Fever
1847	New Orleans	Yellow Fever
1847-8	Worldwide	Influenza
1848-9	North America	Cholera
1849	New York	Cholera
1850	Nationwide	Yellow Fever
1850-1	North America	Influenza
1851	Coles Co., IL, The Great Plains, and Missouri	Cholera
1852	Nationwide [New Orleans-8,000 die in summer]	Yellow Fever
1855	Nationwide [many parts]	Yellow Fever
1857-9	Worldwide [one of the greatest epidemics]	Influenza
1860-1	Pennsylvania	Smallpox
1865-73	Philadelphia, NY, Boston, New Orleans	Smallpox
	Baltimore, Memphis, Washington DC	Cholera
	A series of recurring epidemics of:	Typhus, Typhoid, Scarlet Fever, Yellow Fever
1873-5	N. America and Europe	Influenza
1878	New Orleans [last great epidemic]	Yellow Fever
1885	Plymouth, PA	Typhoid
1886	Jacksonville, FL	Yellow Fever
1918	Worldwide[high point yr] more people were hospitalized in WWI from this epidemic than wounds. US Army training camps became death camps, with 80% death rate in some camps	Influenza