The Cholera of 1851

History of Fulton County, Illinois; together with Sketches of its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chas. C. Chapman & Co., Peoria, Illinois, 1879, page 901-3
The following detailed account of the cholera of 1851 was prepared by Esquire H. S. Jacobs and published in the Lewistown Democrat June 5, 1879.
The Cholera of 1851
"It will be remembered that this scourge appeared in New Orleans in the fall of 1848, and raged there during the following winter. It made its appearance in St. Louis in February 1849. The first case was attended by Prof. Barber, of McDowells Medical College. The faculty laughed at him for pronouncing it cholera; but in a few days after Dr. Barber himself died with it. The doctors then gave the alarm, and great preparations were made to stay its progress. But it spread rapidly, and that, together with the great fire of May 17th which swept away a great part of the city, seemed to blight the prospects of the growing city. The cholera continued there during the summers of 1850-51.
About the first of June, 1851, Esq. Jechoniah Langston went from here to St. Louis on business. Soon after his return he was taken ill. Not knowing the disease to be cholera, the people attended to him as was the custom. He died on the 7th of June. The remains were taken to the church of which he was a member, and a funeral preached, the coffin opened, and the body viewed by those present. The weather was very warm, with southeasterly winds and frequent rains.
John McHenry and several of his family were taken down the day after Langston's death. There not being room in his house for all of them, he was taken to the Christian church, where he received all the care and attention that was possible, but he died shortly after. Four of his children died - Samuel on the 8th, Enos on the 10th, Thomas B. on the 12th, and Mary A. on the 17th of June. On the 12th a young man named Thomas Kent Woodward died at the American House, and on the same day another young man, a stranger, died at Nathan Searl's. On the 20th a young man by the name of Wm. Haney, employed as clerk for Dr. John Hughes, died. Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes, wife of the Doctor, died on the 19th. Mrs. Mary E. Blanton, a friend of the Doctor and his family, was taken ill about this time and died on the 23rd. Two colored boys also died at this house, one on the 21st and one on the 23rd. Wm. Boswell, a saddler, also died on the 21st.
Dr. Isaac B. Bacon, who had recently come to the place, and who had gained quite a reputation for his close attention to the sick, came home from the country with the disease about dark on the evening of the 27th, and died about daylight the next morning. James B. Fowler and a Mr. Frankenbury lost two children each about this time. Wm. P. and Rebecca J. Edie died on the 23rd and 24th respectively. Grandfather Euclid Mercer was buried about this time. As the friends returned from his burial, the man who made his coffin (a Mr. Murphy) came for Dr. Nance to go and see his mother-in-law. The Doctor with I. B. Witchell went out there. The man met them at the door, and showed clear symptoms of cholera. They were both buried before 12 o'clock that night. John Kirkbride a brother of David Kirkbride, died June 27th, on the farm beyond Sugar Creek, in McDonough Co., now owned by Robert Andrews. His brother Eliakim died in town a few days after. Mrs. Jane Andrews, mother of Robert, died at the house of Joseph Crail July 4th. Bird Anderson, brother of Mrs. Cephas Toland, was taken down about this time. He was thought to be dead, his coffin was prepared and preparations for his burial made. But he recovered and lived to serve his country faithfully in the war of 1861, removed to Kansas where he died five or six years ago. A young woman named Maria A. Patterson died at the Hayes House July 2nd. David Merrick died on his farm just west of town July 11th. Elizabeth, wife of John A. Craig, and sister to Mrs. William Alexander, died on the 24th and her sister, Mrs. Taylor, died soon after. Oscar D., son of James A. and Elizabeth Russell, died Aug 1st. Julia A., wife of Wm. Hayes, died July 31st. Philip Weaver died Aug 27th, Elizabeth Davis Aug 6th, and Richard C. Johnson, brother of Mrs. T. Hamer and Mrs. J. A. Russell, on Sept 3rd. Lemuel Burson, one of those who waited on the sick during the whole time, was taken down among the last cases and went to join those he had helped care for.
These are the names of the majority of those who died, although there were others whose names we could not get. There were also many others who recovered.
Mr. Witchell says he waited on some seventy cases. During the prevalence of this dread disease in our midst many cases of extreme sadness occurred, and some of that were mirth-provoking - among the latter being a man who came to town with a lump of tar sticking under his nose. All business was suspended, except to furnish what was needed for the sick and dead. Mr. Mellow kept open the store of Stephens & Winans for that purpose.
During this trying time Mansfield Patterson kept the Hayes House and kept his table set at all hours for those waiting upon the sick and dying.
In this, as in all cases of the prevalence of epidemic or contagious disease, a few persons took hold and in a systematic manner waited on and cared for every one of the sick during the whole time of this dreadful calamity, forgetting self and thinking only of the suffering around them. Most prominent among these were the following: Isaac B. Witchell, Cephas Toland, John Mathewson, Joseph B. Royal, H. S. Thomas, Mansfield Patterson, Wm. Mellor, C. B. Cox, Lemuel Burson and David Clark. Among the ladies who assisted in this noble work were Mrs. Elizabeth Westlake, Mrs. Martha Burr, Mrs. Sarah M. Witchell, Mrs. America Toland, and Mrs. Patterson; and many a poor sufferer had the benefit of their kind care and attention. But of these only Mrs. Toland and Mrs. Burr survive. Mr. Clark, after the cholera ceased here, went to Bluff City where the cholera soon made its appearance. He again waited on and nursed the sick, was himself taken down and died, being the last case.
Of all these it can truly be said, they did all that men and women could do during that trying time, and during all these 28 years since, those who survive have ever been ready and willing to aid the sick and relieve the distressed wherever and whenever their services were needed, and this without ostentation or display. Such self-sacrifice will never go unrewarded.
No person is more to be remembered for what he did during those trying days than Esq. H. S. Jacobs."