[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Plagues? Foreign armies?

[Otto]

Good evening/morning Rose-Marie

You use the term 'plague' rather loosely, as a catch-all term for a  
variety of medical maladies. Poland was for the most part spared from  
Plague, which refers to the Bubonic Plague or Black Death  
specifically. (some may counter the bacterium culprit) The bacterium  
is 'Yersinia pestis'. The Black Death killed an estimated one hundred  
million people in 1400.

The term you want to use is 'pandemic', which refers to a group of  
nasty medical maladies such as influenza, typhus, cholera, famine,  
smallpox and so on.

The seaport of Danzig and also Königberg of East Prussia experienced a  
plague epidemic 1709-1710 to an extent a third of the population died.  
That was it except for Russia in 1738-1739.

The area you have under consideration was in 'Russian Poland', and  
1825-1863 was a time of turmoil for specific areas due to the Poles  
attempting to overthrow Russian oppression.

Wherever there is a presence of soldiers the danger of typhus and  
cholera surfaces. Contamination of water and sanitation.  I would opt  
for cholera being the cause of death seeing a pandemic was on the roll  
during that time period . It was brought by the soldiers. it could  
have up to a 40% + mortality rate. The bacterium 'Vibrio cholerae'.

We are the survivors of those pandemics. . . millions did not make it.

Armies on the march brought morbid diseases with them but did what  
they could to repopulate the areas they marched through.   Enough said.

On Sep 14, 2008, at 9:54 PM, F&RM Haddad wrote:

> I'm learning the importance of knowing some of the history of the  
> areas we
> research. And since I don't know this particular relevant history, I'm
> hoping someone else does.
>
> 1) were there plagues in the - say - Gostynin, Warszawa, Poland area  
> around
> 1825-1850? There seem to be a lot of deaths at that time among the  
> people I
> am researching. I know that in the early 1900's there was a plague  
> in the
> Kremianke area in Volhynia, for my grandfather and several of his  
> siblings
> died of it. I was told it was "Typhus" - the black plague revisited?
> Speaking of which, the black plague was still decimating communities  
> in
> Wuerttemberg, Germany around 1635. Is there somewhere we can find  
> out what
> plagues were affecting what areas when?
>
> 2) And were there "maurading armies" going through the area from  
> about 1800?
> Reason I ask is that I've come across several births where the  
> father is
> unknown, and all around the same time period. One must consider the
> possibility of rape by foreign armies on their way through. Other
> possibilities exist, of course. But it seems to be a high proportion
> relative to time periods before and after.
>
> Rose-Marie
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
> Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe http://www.sggee.org
> Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv



. . .   Otto
         " The Zen moment..." wk. of March 23, 2008-
              ________________________________
                "Each of us. . . A bundle of possibilities."