Yellow Fever on Galveston Island

by Jan Johnson

Overview

Jan Johnson provides a definitive account of Galveston's fight against outbreaks of Yellow Fever, which transformed an island paradise into the City of Dreadful Death.

In the summer of Galveston's founding year, a mysterious malady accompanied by black vomit descended upon the inhabitants. Names for the devastating plague came quick and fast as the body count rose. Saffron Scourge. Bronze John. Yellow Jack. Yellow Fever. The disease's cause and cure remained elusive, as did the medical institutions Galveston would need treat the illness. Four thousand souls perished in nine epidemics between 1839 and 1867. By the time of Galveston's final Yellow Fever outbreak in 1903, however, residents were better informed and equipped. Discover the key figures and pivotal events of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439675427
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	07/11/2022
Series:	Disaster
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Fifth generation "BOI," Jan Johnson made it her business to study the city's rich history to write about it, just as her mother, Dorris Stechmann Johnson, wanted for her. Yellow Fever on Galveston Island, her fourth book, is the first written investigation of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease. Readers will also explore the establishment of the city's first two medical institutions and its orphanages.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Preface and Perseverance 11

Introduction 15

Part I The Founding Fathers and Development of the City

1 Williams and McKinney 19

2 Menard 21

Part II Aspects of Yellow Fever

1 The Honorable Dr. Ashbel Smith 25

2 Yellow Fever in Galveston 27

3 Observations Based on Dr. Smith's Experience 29

4 Questions of Cause Uncovered by the Good Dr. Finlay 31

Part III Eight Epidemics, 1844-1882

1 Impacts of the Earliest Epidemics on Specific Galveston Citizens 35

William Houston Jack 35

Isabella Offenbach Maas 36

Lucy Palmer Loening Grunewald 38

2 Yellow Fever Epidemics during the 1850s and '60s 39

Gail Borden 40

William Pitt Ballinger 43

3 Outbreaks of Two Fevers in 1858 44

4 Epidemic of 1867, the Deadliest Outbreak 46

"The City of Dreadful Death" 47

Military Missteps 49

Others Affected by the Mosquito-Borne Disease 50

Insult to Injury 52

5 Dr. John Miller Haden and Sons 53

6 Yellow Fever Epidemics of 1878-1882 56

Part IV Establishment of Medical Institutions on the Island

1 Leaving It to God: What Man via Government Couldn't Do, the Catholic Church Did! 61

The Ursulines 61

St. Mary's Hospital 63

2 Early Evolution of the University of Texas Medical Branch 65

3 Soule University 67

4 Rosanna Dyer Osterman 68

Part V A Hospital for the Largest City in Texas

1 The Esteemed Dr. Dowell 73

2 The Sealy Brothers: Entrepreneurs to Benefactors 75

The Development of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson 78

John Hutchings Sealy 80

Magnolia Willis Sealy and Her Legacy 82

3 School of Nursing 90

4 Ashbel Smith Building 93

Saccarappa 94

5 Preservation of UTMB's First Building 97

Part VI Drs. Smith v. Dowell…and Reed

1 Evergreen 101

2 Major Walter Reed, MD 104

Part VII Development of Galveston's City Water System, 1882

1 Finding Water and Bringing It to the Island 109

2 Controlling the Mosquito Population: Vigilance, Enforcement and Consistency 113

Part VIII Unfortunate Necessity of Orphanages

1 "Suffer the Little Children" 117

2 The Yeager Home 119

3 Galveston Children's Home 121

4 The Lasker Home 123

5 St. Mary's Institution of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston 125

6 Bayland's Orphans' Home 127

Epilogue. The Final Yellow Fever Epidemic

1 Lessons Learned 131

2 Response to Other Epidemics and One Pandemic 133

Spanish Flu 133

Smallpox 135

Yellow Fever Brought Forward 135

Covid-19 and Its Variants 136

Notes 137

Bibliography 141

Index 145

About the Author 155