1813.107: Petition seeking Free Small-Pox Vaccinations in Virginia.
Published: 1813
Full Title: To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives ... memorial of the undersigned citizens of [blank] county ...
Author: Citizens of the Commonwealth.
Place Issued: Virginia
Issuing Press: Uncertain
Description: 1 sheet [1 pg.]; 31 cm. x 19 cm. (broadside).
Notes
Sheet lacks colophon; several petitions on this topic were received by the House of Delegates on December 16, 1813 (from Stafford, Culpeper, & Prince William counties, and Petersburg city); Hummel recorded just one petition from this group, but did not identify petitioners' residence; as majority of those petitions came from Fredericksburg area, this likely issued there; however, it is also possible that this item was the Petersburg petition, and so printed there; hence the indeterminacy here. This effort, apparently instigated by war-time outbreaks of small-pox in Virginia's ports, was successful in generating "An act for the free distribution of genuine Vaccine Matter for the use of the Citizens of this Commonwealth" (Chap. X1V of Acts of December 1813 Assembly).