When I look for a story to write, I begin by trying to find a birthday or anniversary that happened 125, 150, 175, or 200 years ago. For the year 2024, that means I often search for events that happened in 1849. During this past month of June, I have run across a whole bunch of results that indicated deaths that occurred in June of 1849…175 years ago. In addition, almost all of those death records are found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis. That is because a major cholera epidemic took place in that city in 1849, and June was the worst month. Now, we are almost through the month of June, and I have not pointed out that this year marks the 175th anniversary of that disastrous epidemic.
I have already written a post about the 1849 cholera epidemic, and I wrote that post 5 years ago on the 170th anniversary of that event. I am republishing that post today.
I was directed this event again when I found another one of those 1849 death records in our German Family Tree. It was the death record of Ernestina (Koehring) Kalbfleisch who died on June 28, 1849. The image below was included in that previous post, and it indicates that not only did Ernestina, the mother, die in this family, but also 3 young children also succumbed to cholera on June 23rd, June 27th, and June 30th. One can only imagine the heartbreak among the other members of that family, especially the father, Jacob.
The Cholera Epidemic of 1849 in St. Louis indeed impacted Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis, and their pastor, Rev. C.F.W. Walther. A few other Lutheran churches in that city like Immanuel Lutheran Church and Holy Cross Lutheran Church must have also suffered through the loss of many of their members.
Despite its horrific consequences, there were also a few positive results from this epidemic. The water and sewer systems in St. Louis were improved dramatically after it was discovered that they were the primary causes of this epidemic.