In the year 1776, the terrible malady of smallpox in a malignant form visited the townspeople, and six families at least were stricken with the disease. The authorities were obliged to care for those sick. The sickness and suffering with this disease, with such limited accommodations for their care, led to the agitation of the construction of a town hospital, for the care of those sick with the smallpox, and other contagious diseases in the future, but after much discussion in open town meeting the matter was "voted down."
In the spring of 1777, Samuel Blodget, Esq., who was chairman of the board of selectmen in Goffstown, presented his bill to the townspeople, which included the following items, viz.:
To 22 days self and horse in attendance upon the families of Hale, Kimball, Hadley, Myrick and Rogers while sick with the smallpox.
To 14 days self and horse in attendance upon the family of Jno. Morse while sick with the smallpox.
The number of miles travelled in the former case per day is stated at 12, making 264; and in the latter 84.
The bill closes with the following statement "for all which Service I Bag leave to to make a preasent of to the Town."
pr SAMUELL BLODGET
This was certainly very commendable in Mr. Blodget, and acceptable to the townspeople, and was only one of the many instances of his generosity.
The legends relative to the disease at that time confirm the reports that the suffering was terrible in the extreme. Rude habitations, lack of care and proper medical attendance and slim sustenance, all tended to the aggravation of the disease.
The Hale family resided in a small house situate on North Mast Street in Goffstown Village, near the present residence of Girard Pellens, and in this family occurred the first death from the disease. In the other cases all or nearly all recovered.
In the summer of 1845 Miss Kate Muzzey, a niece of Mrs. Dea. Ephraim Warren, came from Ohio to visit at the family of her aunt at the house now owned by Lorenzo Philbrick. While riding in the cars on her journey to New Hampshire she noticed a sick passenger aboard the train, and her attention was especially called to the man on account of the spots and blotches on his face. After her arrival at the home of her aunt in Goffstown, she was taken sick and her case was soon diagnosed as malignant smallpox, which she had contracted upon the train from the passenger above mentioned. Her cousin, Miss Julia Warren, also contracted the same disease, and for a number of days was severely sick; both finally recovered and there were no further cases in town at this time.
In December, 1859, the inhabitants of Goffstown Village were excited over the report that smallpox had made its appearance in the village. The following day the report proved true. A family by the name of Clough, living in the easterly part of the house now owned by Frederick A. Condon, just northerly of the store building of A. M. Jenks and Son, had recently returned from a visit at Warner, and in some unexplained way contracted the disease, which members of the family had in a mild form, perhaps varioloid.
The disease soon appeared in the families of Warren S. Richards, Alfred Story, Luther Richards, Richard Pattee and George Warren. Four young school girls about seven years of age were soon severely stricken with the complaint: Clara Richards, daughter of Warren S. Richards, Mardie L. Story, daughter of Alfred Story, Ella Richards, daughter of Luther Richards, and Clara A. Pattee, daughter of Richard Pattee. They all recovered after a severe sickness. Thomas Richards, living in the family of his uncle, Luther Richards, died of the disease.
Peter Peters, a colored man who lived with Isaiah Richards upon the Bog Road, signified his intention of going to the house of Luther Richards, and Isaiah warned him and further told him if he went he must not come back. Paying no heed to warnings given, he visited the house of Mr. Richards, and was obliged to remain. He contracted smallpox and was removed to Hillsborough County Farm where he soon died.
On the southerly side of the river in the family of George Warren (the same home where the disease appeared fifteen years before), J. Frank Warren, a nephew, was stricken with the dreaded disease and severely sick; also a man by the name of George A. Clark, who was boarding in the family, together with his boy, George, about eight years of age. The boy died after a short sickness.
The family of John Towns, living on the Sargent place a short distance easterly of the present reservoir, was stricken with the disease, but had it in a mild form and recovered. No other cases appearing by the middle of February, 1860, the disease abated.
DIPHTHERIA
In the winter of 1860 and 1861 diphtheria, then an almost unknown complaint, appeared in several families in town in a very severe form. The disease attacked mostly children, and was quite fatal. In some instances the patient would survive but a short time after stricken with the disease. In the families of Leonard Cram, Horace Richards and Benjamin Dodge were fatalities from the disease.
INFLUENZA
In September, 1918, a severe malady, called the Spanish Influenza, suddenly appeared throughout the United States; it was especially severe in the New England States and the military cantonments. At Camp Devens in Massachusetts, and some northern cities, it was very fatal and many deaths resulted therefrom. It was very similar to the LaGrippe of 1889, and in many cases septic pneumonia followed. Church services and public gatherings of all kinds in Goffstown were discontinued for three weeks, September 29-October 20.
The severest affliction in town was in the family of Dr. Frank Blaisdell, in which occurred the death of the doctor, his wife and son Percy from pneumonia as a sequence of the complaint.
Chapter 48