A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

Cincinnati.Cholera was a scourge from 1832-34, 1839, and in 1847-1852. There was no cure. It spread rapidlyand people could die only a few hours after experiencing symptoms. Eight hundred died in the firstCincinnati epidemic. So many orphans resulted from this disease that the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum wasfounded. Wesleyan Cemetery was founded in 1843 because existing cemeteries were filled by choleradead.Thought to be caused by impure air, vapors and fogs that formed in valleys, those who could leftCincinnati for the country - up to the cleaner air of the surrounding hills. Mt. Pleasant changed its name toMt. Healthy by those fleeing this plague.In downtown, fires were lit on every corner, believing the smoke would dispel the miasma. Nightand day these fires burned, even in the heat of summer. People would inhale the smoke, cough andcontinue on their way thinking that the coughing would help prevent the disease. Over the basin a shroudof smoke hung. The water supply, pumped directly from the river - which mingled sewerage and offal -was not suspect.Cholera reappeared in April of 1833 and a pattern emerged. The disease would start in April, stoppedby the time of frost, with most deaths occurring from June to August.Peter P. Laboyteaux in 1830 sold his farm (in today’s North College Hill) and along with his secondwife, Margaret Cameron, moved to Henry Co., Indiana. Mrs. Ruth J. Wells wrote in the Pageant, 19 “Thiswas an unfortunate move for Margaret. The history of Henry County relates that Squire Batson broughtthe cholera there after a trip to Cincinnati in 1833. Margaret nursed him, caught the cholera, and bothwere dead in less than a week. Margaret’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth Ross, of Newcastle, Indiana tookcare of her mother, in turn catching the cholera and carrying it to Newcastle, where she and two childrenperished within three weeks.”The longest and worst period of cholera was 1847-1852. At the Jackson Tavern (north east corner ofWalnut & 12th Streets), all of the occupants of the inn, innkeeper Jacob Wise and his family, a total of 25people, died in one day of the disease that entered their door that morning from an ill traveler. Casesoccurred where the unwashed clothing of the deceased was sent to relatives. The person who opened thebox usually died first. Even the person washing the clothes died. Clothing was prized highly and lesseasily obtained than now. Mrs. Ruth J. Wells remembers her mother recalling from her childhood thatpeople walking along the street would fall over and were picked up by cart or wagon and taken to thenearest hospital. But seldom did the treating physician die even though he breathed the sick room air.Mrs. Alice (Davey) Ante sent the following cholera treatment from Grandma Davey’s recipe book of1826, recopied in 1893.The Bingal Chronicle (1831?)1 oz. Of cinnamon water1 oz. Of ipecacuanha35 drops of tincture of opium1 drachm spirits of lavender2 drachms tincture of rhubarbTo be taken at once and the complaint will be instantly relieved.Cincinnati’s 1849 population was 116,000 of which 4,600 died of cholera in one year. Thebreakdown of deaths by ethic groups is interesting. German, Irish and Jewish populations reported themost deaths, due to living in crowded tenements with poor sanitation. At this time more than 100 diedevery day for a six week period. Rev. James Kemper and Dr. Daniel Drake’s granddaughter died in theepidemic.The causative agent of cholera was not discovered until 1883. But Dr. John Snow of England urged19 Source: Coleraine Township Historical Society24