"Koppor" takes the children of Nora

I bought in to a month of ArkivDigital, the premier Swedish repository of Swedish archival records. The photos of the original Swedish church records are as clear as possible and I have been spending a bit of time there gathering what information I can. I had noted that my fifth great grandfather, Olof Marcusson was noted in the Husförhör or Swedish Household Examination of 1787-1790 as död (dead). I was now painstakingly going through the death records month by month looking for his death record. I made a terrible discovery. The end of the 18th century, November and December 1799, gave a little foretaste of the nightmare that the new century would bring to the small parish of Nora, Västmanland, Sweden.

I had become used to seeing young women dead from childbirth and folks younger than I am today listed as dying from "alderdom" or old age. Diseases easily cured today or causes of death that just left one wondering. Can a person die from a cough or diarrhea? I guess so. Many young children did not live to adulthood and often the cause of death was not even listed by the parish priest. Did they not even know what took them or perhaps death for the youngest was so common no one even questioned it.

November and December 1799 I saw a word that I knew meant bad times to come for the parish of Nora. Three little ones - cause of death - "koppor" or smallpox. I turned the page to 1800...

double click to enlarge for easier viewing  https://app.arkivdigital.se/volume/v73533?image=10

January 14, 1800 the soldier Olof Norgrensson's 2 year old daughter Anna died from "koppor".
All the way through January and February "dito, dito, dito, dito, dito". Smallpox swept away many of the youngest of Nora, slowing only as spring came.

Olaf's daughter Brita, who I have descended from, had long ago married and moved to another parish. I never did find Olaf's death record but he lived to at least 80. Long enough to watch grandchildren and great grandchildren sicken, suffer and quickly die?

Long long ago, I know, but still I cried.

postscript - As of April 14, 1978 no cases of smallpox have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from anywhere in the world since the last case had onset of rash on October 26, 1977 in Merka town, Somalia.