

Brief Biographical / Historical Sketch


The S.S. Emily B. Souder was built in Philadelphia for E. A. Souder in 1863. The wooden propeller ship measured 203 feet from bow to stern, and carried passengers and freight between South America, Caribbean and the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States until she sank off the coast of Jamaica in 1878. The Emily B. Souder gained notoriety for bringing yellow fever to New Orleans in the late 1870s, precipitating an epidemic that ultimately claimed 4600 lives in that city before spreading up the Mississippi River.