This is the first of two posts about Thomas Walter (1696-1722), a 6th great paternal uncle. Thomas was born and spent his life in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He graduated at Harvard in 1713 was a preacher, as was his father Nehemiah, a 1684 Harvard graduate! His wife was Sarah Mather (1671-1746, daughter of Increase Mather (In Cases of Conscience, Increase Mather), and the sister of Puritan Minister Cotton Mather (my 7th great uncle).
Small Pox – From spring 1721 through the winter of 1722, a smallpox epidemic afflicted Boston. By the end of 1722, over half of the city’s population of 11,000 had been infected and over 800 had died. At the time the only known remedy for smallpox was to quarantine the infected individuals in their homes, with the hope that this would prevent the spread of the disease.
Cotton Mather learned of the practice of inoculation from his slave, Onesimus. According to his diaries, Cotton received Onesimus in 1706 as “a gift” from his congregation. By embracing a little known and controversial treatment, Mather and Onesimus changed the fate of Boston, and ultimately the future of the British colonies.
But the smallpox epidemic of 1721 was different than any that came before it. As sickness swept through the city, killing hundreds in a time before modern medical treatment or a robust understanding of infectious disease, an enslaved man known only as Onesimus suggested a potential way to keep people from getting sick. Intrigued by Onesimus’ idea, a brave doctor (Zabdiel Boylston) and an outspoken minister(Puritan minister Cotton Mather) undertook a bold experiment to try to stop smallpox in its tracks. How an Enslaved African Man in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox (History.com – Erin Blackmore – Feb. 2021)
One of the first inoculated by Dr. Zabdiel Boylston (after his children) was Thomas Walter who stayed at Cotton Mather’s home while he was treated for smallpox. The debate over Cotton’s support for inoculation became so heated that an explosive device was thrown through a window into Cotton’s house (landing in the room where Walter was staying), luckily the device failed to explode. A note attached to the explosive read, “Cotton Mather, I was once of your meeting, but the cursed lye you told of – you know who, made me leave you, you dog, and damn you, I will inoculate you with this, with a pox on you!”
Thomas’ treatment is noted below in Dr. Boylston’s records.
October 31st (1721), I inoculated the Reverend Mr. Thomas Walter, Mr. Samuel Aspingwall and Mr. Dana, each between 25, and 30, they all had the Smallpox at the usual Time, and of the distinct Sort. Mr. Aspingwall had several restless Nights, which obliged me to give him an anodyne (narcotic pain medicine) for two or three nights following. The other two Gentlemen laughed at him & said he was troubled with vapors. They all in a short time, were well. These Gentlemen came from Roxbury into Boston to be inoculated, and lay in one Room; and their Recommendation of this Practice, at their return proved to be of great Service to that Town, in carrying the Inhabitants soon thro’ that distemper, and in saving many Lives, if I may be allowed to judge from the Success of the different Ways of Infection, viz. out of the first thirteen men and they chiefly heads of Families who had the Smallpox in the natural way, ten of them died; and in above 40 Men that were inoculated at or near the same Time, in the same Town, not one Man died.
Comments, corrections and suggestions appreciated.
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