Smallpox: The Pruning of a Family Tree
As researchers, we sometimes stumble onto a family line that simply disappears. Gone. Evaporated. Usually, there is a simple explanation. They family may have moved
on to another area and the link just hasn't been made. Sometimes it is a tragedy, illness or accident that leaves us scratching our heads. In the case of the Whitaker
family in Delaware County, a smallpox outbreak was the culprit.
Smallpox is a virus characterized by blisters on the skin nearly always resulting in extensive scarring and occasionally causes blindness and physical
deformities among those who survive. It can be spread by physical contact with the victim or contact with bodily fluids particularly the liquid from the blisters. Up
to 60% of victims, and over 80% children who contracted it did not survive. It has since been eradicated through vaccinations.
It is unclear when Franklin G. Whitaker and his wife Margaret, known as Maggie, got to Indiana. They were enumerated in the 1880 census of Niles Township,
Delaware County with their two young sons, three year old Delpha (actually Adolphus or ‘Dolpha’ incorrectly listed as a daughter) and one year old Charles. If a
Dolpha’s age and birth location are correct, it indicates the couple had come to the state prior to his birth but after their marriage in Scott County, in 1876.
Frank’s brother, Addison, had ventured to Indiana as well, living in Wayne County, while brothers William and Marshall were found back in Scott County, Virginia,
in the home of their parents, Landay and Sarah (Folkner) Whitaker. All of them, plus several more family members, moved to Indiana, with the four sons choosing
Delaware County and the others settled in Jay County. Frank was a farmer, as were most men near the town of Granville in Niles Township. The optimistic Frank signed
a chattel mortgage for a brand new Buckeye Reaper and Mowing Machine manufactured by the Aultman, Miller & Company of Akron, Ohio, for the sum of $147.00, on August
27 of 1880 indicating he likely had access to a fair amount of land at that time. On June 15, 1882, Frank leased 240 acres from Zachariah J Stanley to run from the previous December
25, 1881, to December 25, 1885, at a rate of $504 per year plus additional miscellaneous work.
It is assumed that life for the Whitakers was fairly normal compared to other early farm families of the area until Frank was exposed to smallpox. He fell ill
on the 16th of September, 1882. The incubation period for smallpox is about twelve days narrowing the date of Frank's exposure to the first week of the month. Under
what circumstances he was exposed isn't known, but Dr. John W. Sage treated Frank from September 19th to the 22nd when Frank passed away. Talk at the time indicate
that the case was originally misdiagnosed as being erysipelas with typhus fever. A news report claims that the coffin was opened by the undertaker at the services prior to burial. Whether
a result that exposure or simply their proximity to Frank during his illness, his family soon suffered a similar fate. Several other families, including those of James
Blair, undertaker and brother of Maggie Whitaker, as well as neighbors Zachariah Stanley and Az Redding, were exposed and some suffered some degree of illness, but it
seems no deaths would occur in those circles.
Dr. Sage returned to the Whitaker home on October 1st to treat Maggie, and from then through the 19th, he visited daily. Charles followed his mother, falling
ill on the 3rd, then Adolphus, known as 'Dolpha' on the 9th. The three died on the 9th, 12th and 19th respectively. The decimation of Frank's own family was complete.
While Frank's wife and children lay dying, smallpox had already spread throughout the rest of the extended family. Brother Marshall and wife Nancy, as well as brother
William, fell ill the same day as Maggie, and died on the 6th, 11th and 11th. Brother Addison was treated from the 1st until his death on the 8th. John Blair, father
of Maggie Whitaker, became sick on the 6th of October and died on the 9th. Cora (or Cara), a one year old girl likely the daughter of Marshall and Nancy, was treated
for thirteen days before her death on the 27th.
Following the death of the toddler, the entire Whitaker family was wiped out with the exception on one little girl. Evaline (or Evalee), the three year old
daughter of Marshall and Nancy, was the sole survivor of the outbreak. She suffered from varialoid smallpox, a lesser form of the disease and was cared for by a
neighbor. She would eventually return to Scott County, Virginia, marry in 1902, and settle in Sullivan County, Tennessee.
By order of Dr. A. B. Bradbury, the Secretary of the Delaware County Board of Health, neighbors cleaned what they could of personal property and one house. A
second house, described as more of a shack, was burned. He is credited with limiting the spread of the virus by implementing a quarantine. At one point in the ordeal,
he threatened Dr. Sage with arrest for, as the Muncie Daily News of October 7 described, “criminal carelessness in treating cases and then traveling back and forth
to Eaton and Hartford”. The situation even garnered a mention in the Indianapolis news market.
Indianpolis (Indiana) News, October 9, 1882
Dr. Sage filed a lawsuit against Frank's estate to recover payment for medical services rendered to the family. While requesting $285, he received $145. In a
similar case against Addison Whitaker's estate, Dr. Sage sued Zachariah Stanley, who himself had dodged the smallpox bullet, as administrator in the amount of $80 for
travel and care, but received only $40. Dr. Sage went on to sue the county commissioners in the amount of $688 for the treatment of Marshall, Nancy, William, Cora, and
Evaline Whitaker, and John Blair. Also included were two suits of clothing and a pair of boots. He was allowed $65 of the claim. He filed an appeal for an additional
$500, but the outcome of that case is unknown.
While Frank was resting assumedly in peace, his name appeared regularly in court records over the next year and a half. On October 17, 1882, Joseph Saunders
applied for letters of administration on Frank's estate and posted a bond. The request was approved. In that position, was sued several times. Landy Whitaker, father
of Frank, William, Addison, and Marshall, sued to recover money already owed by Frank and for burial costs. He was eventually awarded $66.75 from the estate.
Mary "Polly" Blair, widow of John Blair and mother of Maggie Whitaker and James Blair, sued Saunders for money owed to her husband for work prior to and
following Frank’s death. Labor done included ditching and attending stock. For proof she offered a transcription of Frank’s own ledger book copied by Dr. Sage prior
to the burning of the personal property, ledger included. That balance came to $41.25. She went on to claim that she was the only heir to any assets in the estate.
Despite being the mother-in-law of Frank, she argued that the widow, Maggie, inherited his estate in its entirety, but since Maggie and both children had since died,
Polly should inherit it from Maggie’s estate. The judge partially allowed Mary's claim for the $500 that Maggie would have inherited off the top as Frank's widow, but
offset the monies by the expenses Sauders, as administrator, had paid on behalf of Maggie and the children. Those expenses included medical costs, nursing bills
and coffins for Maggie and the children. When the dust settled, Mary Blair left the proceedings with $257.25.
On November 11, 1882, Saunders petitioned the court to cancel Frank's lease with Stanley offering $504 for the year ending on Christmas 1882, plus the 1881 taxes of
$53.27 and additional $75 maybe just to offset the inconvenience.
Frank's estate was finally brought to a close as Joseph Saunders filed his final report on January 10, 1884. The value of inventory and cash was originally $2949.34.
Monies paid for various debts including Staney, Polly Blair, Landay Whitaker, and Dr Sage among many others, totalled $2500.75. The remaining $448.59 was turned over
to county clerk, George McCulloch, for distribution. The money was split between Polly Blair and Landay Whitaker, each receiving $261.67 and $186.91 respectively.
Also on the November 11th, 1881, The same day Saunders arranged to vacate the lease with Zachariah Stanley, Stanley himself filed for letters of administration and
posted bond on the estate of Addison Whitaker, and was approved. In that position, Stanley filed a petition on November 15 to liquidate Addison's personal property.
The items included a stallion, mare, buggy and associated harness, shotgun, watch and an additional set
of double harness. Although the sale brought the appraised value or more, the estate was declared insolvent. The court ordered that public notices be posted and any
creditors be allowed to submit claims. On March 14, 1884, the final report on Addison's estate was filed. The proceeds from the personal property totalled $240.00.
Preferred claims were paid in the amount of $134.27, while non-preferred claims per paid $105.73, about 57% of the actual indebtedness. The residual amount of $61.91
was turned over to the clerk's office. Records don't indicate who finally received that distribution, but it was likely father, Landay Whitaker.
For most members of the Whitaker family, their paper trail consisted only of a mention or two in the news regarding their illnesses and deaths, indexed death
records and follow-up lawsuits to settle their accounts. Frank and Maggie’s family being caught in the 1880 census is among the very few facts available through
nationally-known websites. But researchers looking for Marshall and his family, William, and Addison would have little reason to suspect their family members had moved
to Delaware County, Indiana, let alone died there en masse. Four branches, ten members, from a one tree lost in six weeks, with the exception of a single little girl
left to carry on.
[Updated September 18, 2020]
© On The Banks Of White River/Jennifer Lewis 2015, 2020
[This article appeared in the Delaware County (Indiana) Historical Society Newsletter, March/April, 2015]