In the summer of 1834, the small pioneer community of Pekin – just four years after its founding – was visited by a dreadful epidemic that threatened its survival. It was a disease that was then called the Asiatic Cholera, and popularly known as “the Blue Death.”
This is how the story of that epidemic is told in Charles C. Chapman’s 1879 Tazewell County history (page 566):
“The Asiatic cholera visited Pekin in the beginning of July, 1834, bringing death to many a household, and sadness and sorrow to the hearts of those who were left behind. Many prominent citizens, among whom are mentioned the names of Mr. Smith, Mrs. Cauldron, Thomas Snell, Dr. Perry, Mrs. Perry, and Mrs. J. C. Morgan, fell victims to this fearful malady. Drs. Perry, Pillsbury and Griffith were the representatives of the medical profession here at that time.”
That account is supplemented by the personal recollections of one of Tazewell County’s early pioneers, Margaret Wilson Young, who around the year 1900 recalled:
“In July 1834 there was a serious epidemic of cholera. Seven out of Mr. Haines’ family went with the cholera, and seven from Thomas Dillon’s. A man by the name of Hiner went to Pekin, and said if there was any cholera there he was going to see it. He saw it – he died.”
The “Mr. Haines” of Young’s recollection was Pekin co-founder William Haines, one of many of the original settlers of Pekin whose life was cut short during the cholera epidemic of the summer of 1834 Some online genealogies state that William’s mother died in the same epidemic. Pekin’s victims were hastily interred in the old Tharp Burying Ground, the former site of which is now the parking lot of the Pekin Schnucks grocery store.
The earliest written account of Pekin’s 1834 cholera epidemic is that of William Henry Bates, who wrote the following in 1870:
“With the opening of July, 1834, Pekin was visited by the Asiatic Cholera, and for a time the village was enveloped in a pall of gloom, sorrow and despondency. Quite a number of prominent citizens, among whom we find the names of Mr. Smith, Mrs. Cauldron, Thomas Snell, Dr. Perry, Mrs. Perry, Mrs. J. C. Morgan, and many others, fell victims ere the terrible malady took its departure.
“The medical profession was at that time represented by Dr. Perry (one of the victims), Dr. Pillsbury, and Dr. Griffith. Dr. W. S. Maus, although not then residing in Pekin, was also present the greater portion of the time, lending his aid to the terror-stricken and suffering people.”
The 1879 account in Chapman’s Tazewell County history is obviously derived from Bates’ account, and may have been submitted for publication in Chapman’s book by Bates himself. Among those whom Bates named, Mr. J. C. Morgan was Almeda (Moore) Morgan, wife of Joshua C. Morgan who about that time held the offices of Circuit Clerk, County Clerk, Recorder, Master in Chancery, and post-master. Joshua C. Morgan later became Pekin’s first Town Board President after Pekin incorporated as a Town.
Among the doctors whom Bates mentions, Dr. W. S. Maus was William S. Maus, who was among the pioneer settlers of Tazewell County and the Pekin area who arrived in 1831 and 1832, prior to the Black Hawk War. In his 1870 narrative of Pekin’s history, Bates also notes that Dr. Maus was elected a few times as a Pekin town trustee in the 1840s. The 1873 Atlas Map of Tazewell County, page 7, says Maus served on the committee appointed in 1849-50 to oversee the construction of a new Tazewell County courthouse in Pekin, and on page 51 says he was elected to the Tazewell County Board in 1850.
It has also been inferred that Nance Legins-Costley, who survived the 1834 epidemic, must have been among those who provided care for the sick and dying of the town that summer. This was likely one of the many “select occasions” when, according to Bates’s 1870 history of Pekin, Nance Legins-Costley’s “presence and services” were “indispensible” (sic) to her community.
The 1879 Tazewell County history volume has a few other references to the 1834 cholera epidemic, which not only struck Pekin itself but also nearby areas of the county. Thus, on page 507, we read of “Michael Bennett, one of the first settlers. He died of the cholera during the epidemic of 1833,” which is very probably a typographical error for “1834.” Again, on page 461, the narrative on the early history of Elm Grove Township says, “In the year 1834 the cholera raged through the settlement and carried off many of the settlers.” Finally, on page 634 we read, “Mr. Christian Hermann . . . was a large, portly man and healthy, and during the prevalence of the cholera at Pekin, he took upon himself the care of many a poor sufferer of that dreaded disease. He was fearless, and although constantly with it, did not catch it himself.”
But what is cholera and why was it commonly known as “the Blue Death.” The disease of cholera got that monicker because untreated victims will develop severe dehydration, which very often gives their skin a bluish tint.
The culprit that causes this disease is a bacterium known as Vibrio cholerae, which thrives best in water or in the digestive tract of animals or humans. When it infects the intestine, it causes acute diarrhea. This is how the disease is described on a Centers for Disease Control fact sheet:
“Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. People can get sick when they swallow food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening. About 1 in 10 people with cholera will experience severe symptoms.
“The profuse diarrhea produced by cholera patients contains large amounts of Vibrio cholerae that can infect others if swallowed. This can happen when the bacteria get on food or into water.”
Only in the mid-1800s did we begin to acquire an understanding of this disease, how it is spread, and how to prevent it. Here is a timeline of the important advances in our knowledge of this illness:
1849: Félix-Archimède Pouchet of France first finds V. cholerae in samples from cholera patients, but misidentified it as Vibrio rigula, a kind of protozoan. The same year, John Snow of England showed that the disease is spread by unsanitary, contaminated water.
1854: Studying an outbreak in Florence, Filippo Pacini identifies and names V. cholerae as a kind of bacteria.
1884: Robert Koch of Germany proves that V. cholerae is the cause, not merely a symptom, of cholera. (Koch was also the one who identified the tuberculosis and anthrax bacilli.)
c.1905: Improvements in public sanitation make cholera rare in developed countries.
1959: Sambhu Nath De of India isolates the cholera toxin and shows that is how the bacteria makes us sick.
Cholera was one of the 19th century’s worldwide killers. It is thought that cholera claimed more than 150,000 victims in the United States during the two pandemics between 1832 and 1849, and also claimed 200,000 victims in Mexico. St. Louis lost 500 in the years from 1832 to 1835, Cincinnati 732, and Detroit 322. In the 1849-51 outbreak, St. Louis lost 4,557, Cincinnati 5,969, and Detroit 700. In each of these outbreaks, deaths totaled 5-10% of the population!
Vietnam had it far worse in the 1849 outbreak. There cholera killed from 800,000 to one million people (that’s 8-10% of the kingdom’s 1847 population).
At the beginning of the 19th century cholera, originated first from Asian countries such as India, spread across Europe through sailors traveling from sea port to sea port. Thus, it was often known as “Asiatic cholera.” By 1831 the cholera epidemic had already struck England. In June 1832, cholera had made its way to ports in Canada and traveled down from St. Laurence and the Hudson River to lower Manhattan, where it grew into an epidemic. Many wealthy Manhattan residents, aware of its approach, moved away to the country side to avoid infection. However, the poor who inhabited lower Manhattan had no choice but to stay and face the disease. With no effective method of treatment, 3,500 people, mostly poor immigrants, died during the course of the plague.
In 1832, about 250,000 people inhabited the area below 20th Street in New York City. The majority of them lived below 14th Street in dark dwellings, surrounded by the stench and filth of the city. An area known as Five Points (now located in Foley Square and Chinatown) was the first ward to be hit by an outbreak of cholera. Five Points, inhabited by poor Irish Catholic immigrants and African-Americans, created a negative perception of the poor amongst the wealthy classes. Many Protestants believed God had brought the cholera epidemic to New York to punish Catholics and blacks for their “false” religion and alleged debauchery and indulgence in sin – but the disease soon affected Protestant areas too.
Most infected people died within one or two days of admittance to hospitals. Out of panic, many private New York hospitals closed down and emergency facilities in schools had to be opened. Doctors treating cholera patients often got infected themselves and nurses became hard to employ.
But, as Pekin’s experience shows, the disease wasn’t restricted to the big cities. This is what we read in “The Black Cholera Comes to the Central Valley of America in the 19th Century – 1832, 1849, and Later” (2008), by Dr. Walter J. Daly:
“The small towns in the Midwest were more severely affected than the cities. In general, relative to the population, losses were similar, but the panic and flight were more destructive. Reporting of deaths for a given year does not reflect the real terror created in these towns. Most deaths occurred in a few days or weeks, so the effect was magnified. In some cases, the early death rate, extrapolated for a year, would have exceeded the local population. . . .
“Aurora, Indiana, is a river town about 25 miles downstream from Cincinnati. In 1832, 20-30 people died from a population of a few hundred. By 1849, the population was 2,000. On June 14, there were 14 deaths despite great efforts to purify the air by fires burning at street crossings and a canon fired every 25 minutes for 4–5 hours. Fifty-one more died over the next three weeks. Sixteen hundred of the 2,000 residents fled the town. Fright must have been the chief cause of flight. Perhaps they were driven out by the fear that it was the local air that carried the disease. One hundred twenty-two died in the town; there were 13 deaths among the 1,600 who fled. Four county physicians died during that epidemic. Leaving was a good idea, but they carried the cholera with them. After the epidemic passed, people returned and growth continued.
“Boston, Indiana, a crossroads village about 15 miles south of the National Road had 120 people in 1849. There were 53 deaths over five weeks. Of those who became ill, only one recovered. Graves were dug by family members on their own property. The town was abandoned except for one family. Often there was no one left to bury the dead.”
But why were the America’s pioneer communities plagued by cholera? Dr. Daly gives the general reason:
“Sanitation was casual. Drinking water was either dipped or pumped from shallow dug wells, rivers or lakes. Water sellers carried water drawn from wells or rivers. Sewage was deposited by individual households in streams or in cesspools which were allowed to overflow or seep into nearby sites. Water sources and sewage disposal were positioned for convenience, not safety – often so close together that the odor and taste of drinking water was a problem.”
But in the case of Pekin and Tazewell County, there were more specific reasons. Note, for example, this passage from an 1835 diary of a visitor to Pekin:
“June 20:
“Took Steamboat Friendship for St. Louis.
“Touched at Pekin to receive freight. Population about 500; very sickly, cold, dreary-looking place. It commands a better and much more settled back country than Peoria.
“Arrived at Beardstown, in the night.”
The diary-writer may perhaps be excused for finding Pekin to be “very sickly, cold, [and] dreary-looking,” because Tazewell County and areas throughout Central Illinois in 1835 experienced an unusually wet May and June. Commenting in her edition of the 1835 diary, Karen Dustman notes (page 56) that another contemporary diary – the Roberts diary – mentions that in May-June 1835 the county had “uncommonly wet, soggy weather” along with heavy thunderstorms, hail, and even frost. In fact, Pekin’ springs and early summers during the 1830s were usually that way.
The 1835 diary-writer’s dismal description of Pekin is reminiscent of the way Tazewell County pioneer Eliza Farnham of Groveland related her impressions of her 1836 arrival in Pekin, which she disdainfully dubbed “Pokerton” in her account:
“We worried on through the flood of water that was pouring down the bed of the Illinois and submerging its banks, till the night of the fifth day brought us to the landing place of our friends in the town of Pokerton. It was at that time the county seat of one of the largest and wealthiest counties in the state. Its name is faintly descriptive of its inhabitants in a double sense: one of their favorite recreations being a game at cards, which is indicated by the first two syllables of this name. . . .”
A long, lost feature of Pekin’s local geography during pioneer days – erased by the growth and improvement of the city over time – no doubt contributed to the negative impressions formed by Farnham and the 1835 diary-writer. That feature was a seasonal body of water that was named Bitzel’s Lake, which was perhaps the remnant of an ancient backwater of the Illinois River.
Describing Bitzel’s Lake on his 1910 historical map of Pekin, William H. Bates says, “This lake was created by a depression from St. Mary to Derby streets. After a heavy rain it would reach of width of over 100 yards, and about 1 mile long. It was a favorite skating resort in winter. It had an outlet via N. 3rd, N. Capitol, the big ditch, then into Pekin Lake.”
Given the wet weather in June 1835, Bitzel’s Lake probably made Pekin an especially swampy place. And that made for the perfect environment for diseases like cholera to spread.
How was cholera treated back then, in the days before the disease was not understood? Dr. Daly says:
“The doctors at the time were not at all equipped to deal with cholera. Many of them believed that cholera was caused by poisonous vapors from rotting matter and that it was not actually contagious. Without a clear understanding of how the disease worked, they attempted to treat patients using traditional methods. In addition to bleeding, most doctors gave them medicine such as calomel (mercury chloride) and laudanum which was an opiate.”
Another article, “Cholera Epidemics in the 19th Century,” found at the “Contagion” blog, says:
“Patients with families were cared for at home. Physicians, when called, would use such characteristic treatments as bleeding or opium. Homeopathic methods were popular among the middle and upper classes, as were other eclectic treatments, and all manner of dietary and hygienic regimens were promoted in newspapers and books. Those without families might find themselves in charity hospitals, which could become grim places indeed during an epidemic. Preachers gave sermons on the meaning of cholera for both individuals and society. Riots ensued due to popular revolt against mass burials.”
When cholera arrived in Pekin in the summer of 1834, there were no mass burials as far as we know, but we do know that the victims were hastily buried out of fear of the disease spreading even further. As mentioned above, the victims were buried in the Tharp Pioneer Burial Ground that was located at the current site of Pekin’s Schnucks.
Construction work at that site in 1988 led to the somewhat unsettling discovery that when the Tharp Burial Ground was closed down and the pioneer remains interred there were moved to Oak Grove Cemetery (now Lakeside Cemetery), a number of burials had been overlooked.
In June 1988, anthropologist Alan Hern of Dixon Mounds Museum was called in to assist Tazewell County Coroner Bob Haller with the investigation and removal of the burials. Hern and Haller determined that the burials were probably victims of the cholera epidemic of July 1834 who had been buried in haste.
A video of Hern’s work at the site of the former Tharp Burial Ground was made by retired Pekin police officer and local historian Jim Conover. A DVD copy of Conover’s video is in the Pekin Public Library’s Local History Room Collection and is available for viewing at the library.
More recently, filmmaker Ken Hackney has undertaken to produce a documentary about Pekin’s cholera epidemic of 1834, entitled, “The Blue Death Uncovered.” Among those whom Hackney interviewed for his documentary were Hern, Conover, and myself. The teaser trailer for the movie was released about four months ago, and the completed documentary should be distributed some time this fall.
