1803 and the Vaccine Controversy in New England

This news story is from the Farmer's Cabinet, Amherst, New Hampshire, Thursday, 23 June 1803, Volume I, Issue 33, page 2, accessed on line at Genealogy Bank.  The controversy over vaccinations has been the news lately with outbreaks of measles and whooping cough making a comeback after decades of relief from these diseases.  In 1803 the small pox vaccine was fairly new, invented by Edward Jenner in 1798.  Before Jenner's discovery, people tried to inoculate themselves with partial success with a process known as variolation.  But since most people alive at that time knew the consequences of catching the disease, the majority of people were innoculated with Jenner's vaccine.   According to this article, there were still a few who held off getting the vaccine and died of this dreaded disease.  

We all know that when the entire population was vaccinated, the disease small pox almost disappeared from our planet.  Diseases such as measles, pertussis (whooping cough), polio and others remain to plague everyone (children and adults) because of the current trend to ignore or even deny vaccinations.  

This is a case of learning from history, not ignoring it. 

Small Pox -  The Charleston Courier, after 

mentioning the death of Mr. Josiah Smith,

of the small pox, observes, "While we sym-

pathize with his family, we cannot but la-

ment his folly in neglecting vaccination,

which would have secured him with certainty,

from the ravages of that disorder, which has

made his wife a widow, and his children or-

phans."  The same paper informs us, that 

since the introduction of the Cow-Pox 

into Charleston, it has been twice lost from

the want of succession of subjects, and that

from present appearances it is likely soon to

be lost a third time, although the small pox

is propagating there apace.  This is a de-

plorable instance of the force of strong pre-

judices.  We are happy to understand that

in New-York, vaccination meets so lib-

eral an encouragement, as to afford strong 

hopes that the Small-Pox will before long en-

tirely disappear.  We have been informed

that the most respectable gentlemen of the 

faculty of this city, have come to a resolu-

tion not to inoculate for the small pox any

more.  If this be true, it is an instance of

bold and independent conduct, in the highest

degree honorable to every individual of the

association, and one which promises the most

saluatory consequences to our fellow-citizens.

Genealogy Bank   www.genealogybank.com

The Small Pox Vaccine, at Wikipedia   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_vaccine

The 1730 and 1774 Marblehead Riots against Small Pox Inoculation
http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1730-1774-marblehead-riots-smallpox-inoculation/ 

A previous blog post about the large numbers of children lost to "throat distemper" (diptheria)
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-kingston-new-hampshire-throat.html


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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "1803 and the Vaccine Controversy in New England", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 19, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/1803-and-vaccine-controversy-in-new.html: accessed [access date]).