George B. Fitzgerald: Yellow Fever in Norfolk, 1855
The yellow fever epidemic which struck Norfolk in 1855 was devastating.
George Fitzgerald's father, mother and all his younger siblings died in the epidemic. I do not know if he was still in California or had already returned to Norfolk.
An excellent website covering all facets of the epidemic includes the following information:
George's future (?) father-in-law, Robert Bowden, cashier at the Bank of Virginia and Captain of the Norfolk Grays militia, was treasurer of the Howard Association for relief of the victims. Bowden himself was taken ill in August but recovered.
The deaths of Edward Fitzgerald and his wife (George's father and mother) are mentioned, as well as their son Charles. Two other brothers from the 1850 census, Francis I. and Thomas, no longer appear on census records or Norfolk city directories after 1855.
No mention is made of George's sister Mary and her husband John E. Doyle, a merchant in Norfolk, and they and their children are listed in the 1860 census, so they survived.
George's brother Edward in the army and William in the Navy also survived
