Caffery Deaths

The cause of death for Mary, Simon, and Betsy Caffery in 1795/1796 is unknown. All died within a short time of each other - Mary was the final death recorded in Hopkinton in December 1795, and Simon & Betsy were the first two deaths recorded in January 1796. Mary may have died in childbirth (an unnamed stillborn child is also recorded at the same time), but Simon and Betsy were in their teens (15 & 14 years old), practically adults. Was it disease, weather-related, accident, or perhaps something more sinister? Some ideas from research are below.

From Jessi McCarthy, Adult Services Librarian, Hopkinton Public Library, regarding the document in the link below:

Historical view of pestilential epedemics, from the year 1788 to 1798

Two items stood out to me when I reviewed the document:

1. “The scarlet fever, in the course of this year, spread over Connecticut. Its effects are very apparent in the bills of mortality. It appeared in 1795 in Boston, in the spring or early in summer, and continued to prevail in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1796.”

2. The “fever of 1796”, described as “bilious/pestilential”…probably what we know today as Yellow Fever: “In Boston, the disease began near the town dock and the neighboring wharves, in the month of June….The fever afterwards invaded the north part of the town, and a street near the pond; supposed to be excited by noxious exhalations. Some parts of the town, which are low and filthy, escaped the fever. At first it attacked the most robust young men, and the diathesis was highly inflammatory. Later in the season, it attacked persons of all ages and habits. At first it was not infectious, but in the later stages of its progress, it exhibited infection. It disappeared with the arrival of frost, after carrying off nearly 200 patients.”

While it's possible the family members died of disease, records maintained by the First Congregational Church do not show large numbers of deaths in Hopkinton around the time of the Caffery deaths (as would be expected if there was an epidemic). Only two other town residents died in December 1795, when Mary (Fanning) Caffery and her stillborn child perished. One of those was another stillborn child. And Betsy & Simon Caffery were the only two deaths recorded in Hopkinton in January 1796. In addition, annual records of notable events in Hopkinton only contained total numbers of deaths for 1795 & 1796, with no mention of widespread illness. Additional records will need to surface to help discover why this family perished.