Cholera Epidemic of 1834

In the northwest corner of the Rushville City Cemetery is a large open area with no headstones.  This spot marks the mass grave of at least twenty seven victims of the 1834 cholera epidemic. The cholera arrived in Rushville on July 3, 1834, when two citizens, William McCreery and C.V. Putnam was summoned to assist with the body of a Mrs. Wilson, who had died on a boat on the Illinois River.  McCreery and Putnam were the first two victims of the cholera in Rushville.  McCreery’s parents perished four days later.  Twenty-two deaths occurred in the first eleven days of the disease. Panic ensued as people fled the city for relatives in the country or simply moved out into the woods.  Rushville was nearly abandoned.  Staying behind to help nurse the sick were the Rev. John Scripps and his wife Agnes, E. H. O. Seeley, Dr. VanZandt, Daniel Sherwood, John York, William Willis, and a Mr. Wilson.  They set up a hospital in a two story frame building and set to work nursing the sick.  Sherwood, York, and Willis soon fell victim to the disease.   Scripps soon came down with the disease himself.  However, the Reverend survived, and the last victim perished on August 1.  The disease had run its course.   No one will ever be sure how many actually succumbed to the disease.  Today, a memorial marks the spot and contains twenty seven names of known victims.  The cholera returned again in 1841 but was less severe than the Cholera Epidemic of 1834. This episode was written and voiced by Brian Schmidt.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.