Sai Nayunipati

12/8/17

Period 2

Smallpox Epidemic in Farmington

Smallpox, otherwise known as “The King of Terrors” is a deadly, incurable disease that

devastated Colonial America, wiping out over 90% of tribes in the Connecticut Valley and New

England at the time. This lethal virus has made its mark apparent on New England for decades

ravaging the small colonies. However, the first usage of variolation in 1721 finally gave means for

citizens to protect themselves from the illness, but not without its critics. We can see Farmington’s

usage of this method itself when Eli Todd and his colleague, Theodore Wadsworth start an

inoculation hospital and advance local innovation. Finally, we can see the devastation end and the

need for inoculation dissipate with the discovery of vaccination by Dr. Edward Jenner and the

disease truly end in the centuries after. During the eighteenth century, changes in smallpox

treatment helped improve the quality of life in the local community and beyond.

Smallpox Devastation, Symptoms, and Transmission

The Smallpox virus has devastated early America with its deadly nature and horrific

symptoms. The fact that it is incurable plays a major factor in this since only preventative

measures could be implemented. This is because the virus itself is completely unaffected by any

antibiotics rendering their usage completely ineffective and useless. Another issue with smallpox

is that it is highly transmissible, and that sometimes it can be transmitted before its symptoms are

even recognized due to its relatively long incubation period, a period where a disease develops

without any noticeable symptoms of its presence. Plus, it can survive on fomites. Fomites are

objects which can hold a disease until it comes in contact with a host for a period of time, which

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was objects such as bedding and clothing for smallpox. This allowed it to infect susceptible hosts

who come into contact with these objects. Essentially, before preventative technology it was a

deadly disease which can infect you without from a host who didn’t even realize they had it. It’s

infectivity and lethality because of these reasons can be seen during 17th century England,

where smallpox was the cause of ⅓ of childhood deaths and infects over 90% of children

(Leach). Along with its transmissible nature, some of its symptoms include a progressive skin

rash, vomiting, head and body aches, viz, convulsion fits, bloody urine, violent inflammations

in the throat and eyes and other parts of the body, and sores that cover the host’s body all over

(Boylston/cdc.gov). In some cases, if aforementioned sores manage to reach a person’s eyes or

face, they may even go blind, or leave large scars on their face respectively. To add on to the

terrifying nature, it isn’t unheard of for the victim’s sores to come off their skin and stick to

their beds if they get up after a rest (Leach). Unfortunately, this was just day to day life for

those who had smallpox. Clearly, as a result of this one can see that the disease was a terrible

thing in the colonies and that its nature in general was simply horrific.

Discovery of Inoculation and Criticism

As terrible as this was, hope from such a terror came, ironically in a major Boston smallpox

epidemic in the year 1721; however, it was not without its critics. During the epidemic, Puritan

minister Cotton Mather heard from one of his slaves about a technique used in Africa to prevent

the disease. This process consisted of intentionally taking in a small dose of smallpox, in a way such

as inhaling a pustule, to create a localized version of the disease. This method prevents the user

from receiving the virus in the future because once the body survives smallpox, it becomes

immune to it, and it is known as inoculation. This method was preferable over receiving it normally

since the symptoms were much milder and the survival rate was extremely high. Mather

immediately took an interest in this technique and used physiologist Zabdiel Boylston to practice

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it on the people to see if it truly worked and to help the public. Through testing on 247 people,

they noticed that the inoculated people’s chances of getting smallpox was virtually 0%. Although

this method seemed to be the salvation needed from smallpox since it was an actual preventative

measure that could be taken, and would eventually advance smallpox prevention greatly, it was

not without its critics. It was feared that in their attempts to practice inoculation, they would

inadvertently cause an epidemic due to the intentional exposure to the disease which could

spread to the general public. Some even went as to blatantly threaten Boylston and one critic even

firebombed, throwing an explosive which caused fire, into his house. Luckily, no one was

hurt.(Leach). Still though, one could see how much this troubled him when they read his account of

inoculation where he writes, “I hope the reader will excuse me for troubling him with some of the

difficulties that I met with. I have been basely used and treated by some who were enemies to this

method, and have suffered much in my reputation and in my business too, from the odiums and

reflections cast upon me for beginning and carrying on this practice in New England.” Overall, it

can be seen that the discovery of inoculation advanced the prevention of smallpox far, despite its

critics.

Todd-Wadsworth Smallpox Hospital and its Founders

Using this new discovery of inoculation, local physician, Eli Todd, along with his

skilled colleague, Theodore Wadsworth, created the Todd-Wadsworth Smallpox Hospital in

response to a local epidemic which helped the community’s citizens. This hospital was created in

1792 by two people and ran until 1794 to deal with a local outbreak of smallpox, and was one of

the most notable local inoculation hospitals at the time. The first founder, Eli Todd, was born in

New Haven, Connecticut in 1769 born to a prestigious family. In fact, his ancestor, Christopher

Todd, was actually one of the original Connecticut proprietors. (Braceland 20) After a two-year

apprenticeship, Todd, now 21, worked as a local physician for 25 years (Braceland 24). Along with

starting the inoculation hospital in 1792, he was also the first director of the now Institute of

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Living, a place where the mentally disabled could be treated with humane care (Braceland 22).

After his death in 1833, he was described by his close friend, John Greenleaf, as being great for,

“His simplicity and modesty of character, combined with extraordinary ability and energy.”

Theodore Wadsworth, on the other hand, was older than Todd, being born in 1753 himself. While

he may not have been as distinguished as his colleague and not much is known about his life, the

fact that he was a veteran for the continental army and had the advantage of practicing variolation

on the troops proved useful. In addition to this, he was also a physicist in Southington starting in

1780 so he did have considerable medical talent. The progress from this hospital can also seen

considering that there were over 100 pestilence houses in Connecticut in all its years. These “pest

houses” are places where smallpox patients were isolated, without medical care to prevent the

spread of the disease without any medical care. Hospital Rock and the other 22-40+ inoculation

centers from 1767-1801 stand out from these places by actually helping care for the patients of

the disease, and improved the lives of local citizens with a place they can go for this procedure.

(Schneidermeyer). While the exact number is unknown, during the hospital’s time is is estimated

to have inoculated hundreds of people inside its doors, and was able to fill its limited beds easily.

This is a large sum of people who were helped by inoculation by getting rid of the threat of

smallpox in their lives (Leach). Obviously, the Todd-Wadsworth Smallpox Hospital was created by

capable hands and improved the lives of many with inoculation.

Hospital Rock

The Todd-Wadsworth inoculation hospital has long since been lost to time when it was

most likely burned in the 19th century for fear of still containing the virus. However, we can see a

reminder of its work through Hospital Rock (Leach). Hospital Rock is a large traprock boulder

located in a hardwood forest on Rattlesnake Mountain. It was a drop-off site where people first

went before being taken to the hospital elsewhere on the mountain. It evidently served as some

sort of way to organize the patients because there are over 100 carvings on the boulder made

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with a hammer and a chisel, by an apparently skilled carver, which include 53 patient names, 17

patient initials, two words, and the numbers one through thirty-five in roman numerals

(Schneidermeyer 18). Here, it can easily be visualized on just how many people were cared for at

the hospital instead of having a high chance of death from smallpox in their future. From this

information, we can see that the average ages of the people carved into the rock was 18, and that

the age range from nine to thirty-three was present. A boy, Shubael Brownson, was the youngest

while Sally Cowles was the 35 year-old woman inoculated (Schneidermeyer 19). Hospital Rock

also served as a drop of location for family members of the patients to drop supplies. Often coming

by stagecoach, they would bring items such as food and clothing. However, entertainment objects

such as books were not out of the question (connecticuthistory.org). By the sheer number of

people we can see have been inoculated through Hospital Rock, it would be safe to say that The

Todd-Wadsworth inoculation hospital advanced local smallpox care.

Edward Jenner and Vaccination

After its closing in 1794, Eli Todd nor its cofounder, Theodore Wadsworth, decided to

open the Todd-Wadsworth Smallpox Hospital’s doors a second time; part of this reason was due

to a new, revolutionizing breakthrough. Born on the 17th of May, 1749 in Berkeley,

Gloucestershire, English Doctor Dr. Edward Jenner would make a breakthrough. After hearing

rumors about how milkmaids won't receive smallpox after contracting cowpox, he decided to

experiment for himself. In 1796, he conducted an experiment where he took eight year-old John

Phillips and exposed him to the cowpox virus through pus. Then, he exposed the boy to a smallpox

pustule, and found that he had no reaction to the latter virus whatsoever. His immune system was

built by cowpox to recognize the foreign virus, granting him immunity. Jenner published his

findings in 1798, although his findings were shot down by skeptics who demanded more proof.

However, like Boylston, he pushed on with his method despite others claiming it to be unnatural.

Eventually, he named his method vaccination, derived from “vacca”, which is the latin for cow

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(bbc.co.uk). Since then, vaccination soon became more approved of once its benefits be seen.

Now, you did not have to use the virus itself which could go horribly wrong and cause death or an

epidemic. Ever since, smallpox has slowly been eradicated with the last natural case occurring

1949, and the World Health Assembly officially declaring it eradicated in 1952. Now, only two

stockpiles of the disease exist solely for the purpose to study them for fear of a potential terrorist

attack. One is located in Atlanta, Georgia in the CDC. Meanwhile, the other is in the State

Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Russia (cdc.gov). In simpler words,

one of the biggest threats to humanity has been eradicated thanks to vaccination. Clearly, Dr.

Jenner truly advanced technology and helped improve the lives of the world by ending smallpox’s

reign.

Conclusion

The improvement of smallpox prevention throughout the years has made sure that people

in the community and beyond do not have to go through the devastation caused by this virus. With

the introduction of variolation, smallpox went from a devastating illness to something

preventable. While it was not perfect, the small mortality rate from inoculation was much

preferable to the significant one received when a person takes the disease naturally. It certainly

helped prevent more deaths that can be told. Afterwards, Eli Todd and Theodore Wadsworth

were examples of people who helped their communities by providing places where inoculation

could be performed on the public, rather than the notorious pest houses where people were

simply left doing them no good. Years later, the discovery of vaccination further enhanced this

method. Now, instead of taking the smallpox virus itself which could have unwanted

consequences and cause more harm than the benefits if it escaped from isolation, people would

take and handle the much safer cowpox virus. This would slowly lead to the eradication of the

virus over the next 150 years, and it would be safe to say that without the discovery of vaccination

and its predecessor variolation, the deaths caused by smallpox would never have ended. The use

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of vaccination by Edward Jenner also paved the way to modern medicine, and now receiving a

vaccination as a preventative measure for a disease such as influenza is practically second-nature

to people, so it would be safe to say that the technology to prevent smallpox also was a major

milestone for modern medicine in general. These advances improved the life of local residents and

the world by ending the terror and death caused by smallpox.

During the eighteenth century, changes in smallpox treatment helped improve the

quality of life in the local community and beyond. At first, smallpox decimated early colonial

America killing enough to be known as “The King of Terrors”. This continued until 1721 when the

first recorded use of variolation was used by Zabdiel Boylston in a Boston epidemic. Despite

having many critics, Boylston persevered on and found that the method of variolation was

extremely effective in making the body immune to smallpox, and over the course of time it

gradually became more accepted by the general public. Then, capable local doctors Eli Todd and

Theodore Wadsworth decided to start a smallpox hospital which performed inoculation in

response to a small local epidemic, which ran for two years from 1792-1794, before it sadly

burned down in the 19th century. All that is left of it is Hospital Rock and the names carved into it.

Finally, Dr. Edward Jenner discovered the smallpox vaccine after carrying out an experiment on a

boy, and paved the way for modern medical vaccinations and smallpox prevention. As a result,

smallpox’s wrath decreased over the years before finally being considered eradicated in the

1950s.

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 Works Cited

Braceland, Francis J. The Institute of Living: The Hartford Retreat 1822-1972.

Connecticut Printers, 1972. This source was helpful because it gave specific information

on Eli Todd which the other sources greatly lacked such as his career in the Institute of

Living, his other project besides smallpox inoculation, and his life and time as a local

doctor.

“Edward Jenner (1749 - 1823).” BBC, 2014,

www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/jenner_edward.shtml. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.

This source was helpful on giving information on Dr. Edward Jenner such as his life and

birthplace, along with the smallpox vaccine and the experiments he conducted to find it.

This source is also reliable because it was published fairly recently in 2014 and because

the publisher/author, the BBC, is a major and well known organization which is partially

since it gives reliable information, and because of this they would know how to fact-

check and it would be in their best interest to uphold their reputation.

“Farmington’s Hospital Rock Dates Back to 18th-Century Smallpox Inoculation.”

Connecticut History, Connecticut Humanities, connecticuthistory.org/farmingtons-

hospital-rock-dates-back-to-18th-century-smallpox-inoculation/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2017.

This source was helpful in the research-taking process since it contained useful

information about Dr. Edward Jenner which led to ideas for another research topic about

important people . Plus, it had information such as when exactly The Todd-Wadsworth

Inoculation Hospital was in operation, which is crucial information on the topic which the

other sources did not supply.

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Leach, Charles. “Hospital Rock.” The Farmington Historical Society, Sept. 2015, fhs-

ct.org/?s=smallpox. Accessed 26 Oct. 2017. This source was helpful for background

research because it gave a detailed overview on Hospital Rock with information such as

where it is located and who founded it, and other facts about smallpox and Farmington

such as where smallpox originated and pest houses in Farmington respectively.

---. “Smallpox: King of Terrors.” Irving. A Robbins Middle School Library, 14 Nov.

2017, Farmington, CT. Lecture. This lecture was helpful because it gave specific

information on how variolation was first implemented in the US such as who decided to

try it. Plus, it gave additional details on other topics such as information on Theodore

Wadsworth and the smallpox virus itself. This is a reliable source of information because

the lecturer, Charles Leach, is an expert on the topic and has even written a lengthy,

detailed article on the subject with accurate information. Because of this, he is a

trustworthy source.

“Letter on Inoculation.” Zabdiel Boylston: Smallpox Inoculation, Primary Source Media,

2015,

ic.galegroup.com/ic/uhic/PrimarySourcesDetailsPage/PrimarySourcesDetailsWindow?dis

ableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=PrimarySources&currPage=&scanId=&que

ry=&docIndex=&source=&prodId=UHIC&search_within_results=&p=UHIC%3AWHIC

&mode=view&catId=&u=farm91674&limiter=&display-

query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%

7CLYMBFS552956186&windowstate=normal&activityType=BasicSearch&failOverTyp

e=&commentary=. Accessed 14 Nov. 2017. This is a useful source of information

because it contained specific information on the criticism smallpox variolation had when

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it was first implemented. This source is trustworthy because the author, Zabdiel Boylston,

wrote this excerpt from his book first hand and was writing about his own experiences in

the 18th century as a practitioner. Plus, it can be found in Gale which is a trustworthy

database already checked and approved by the school. This source is primary since once

again, Boylston was writing about his own experiences as a variolation practitioner in the

18th century, so his recollections are first-hand.

Schneidermeyer, Mel. The King of Terrors: Smallpox & Hospital Rock in 1792-1794.

Executive Press, 2004. This book was helpful because it contained more in-depth and

general information that was useful for background research and more notes on specific

topics such as Hospital Rock and cleared up some misconception, such as how Hospital

Rock wasn’t the hospital itself.

“Smallpox.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 July 2017,

www.cdc.gov/smallpox/index.html. Accessed 3 Nov. 2017. This source was helpful

because it contained specific information on the smallpox virus itself such as its

symptoms and the times they occur after exposure. It is reliable since it is written by a

branch of the government which can be seen with the .gov domain.

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