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Subject: Re: [IA-IRISH] What they were saying about Ireland in the States -Nov. 1842 n...
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 11:07:58 EDT
"THE GREAT POTATO FAMINE"
BY MARY ELLEN LANIGAN
October 17, 1997
http://www.Genealogy911.org
temporarily indisposed and torn down till further notice
IN 1841, THE POPULATION OF IRELAND WAS OVER 8 MILLION PEOPLE. OVER
TWO-THIRDS OF THESE PEOPLE WERE DEPENDENT ON AGRICULTURE FOR A LIVELIHOOD,
BUT THE CONDITION OF THE OTHER THIRD OF THE POPULATION WASN'T ANYTHING TO BE
ENVIOUS OF! THE SURVIVAL OF THE VAST IMPOVERISHED POPULATION WAS DEPENDENT ON
THE REACCURING
FRUITFULNESS OF THE POTATO AND ON THAT ALONE! THE POTATO, UNLIKE
GRAIN, IS EXTREMELY PERISHABLE AND CAN'T BE STORED.
THE DISASTER, WHEN IT CAME, WAS MUCH MOR SUDDEN AND COMPLETE
THAN ANYONE COULD HAVE IMAGINED. THERE WAS A LONG AND WET SPELL IN JULY OF
1845 OF WHICH IT WAS NOT APPARENT THAT THERE WAS ANY DAMAGE DONE TO THE
CROPS. THEN IN AUGUST, THERE CAME WORD THAT SOUTHERN ENGLAND HAD A STRANGE
DISEASE THAT WAS ATTACKING THE POTATO CROPS THERE. IT WAS "POTATO BLIGHT" THE
CROPS ALONG THE EASTERN COAST OF THE UNITED STATES WAS AFFECTED BY THE POTATO
BLIGHT IN 1842. IN SEPTEMBER OF 1845, THE BLIGHT WAS OBSERVED IN WATERFORD
AND WEXFORD AND THEN SPREAD RAPIDLY FROM THERE. THE SITUATION IN IRELAND HAD
REACHED IT'S WORST BY FEBRUARY OF 1847. GREAT GALES OF WIND BLEW AND THE
COUNTRY WAS COVERED BY THICK, DRIFTING SNOW. TO TRY AND ESCAPE STARVATION,
PEOPLE CROWDED INTO THE SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE TOWNS TO TRY AND ESCAPE THE
HUNGER.
A FEVER EPIDEMIC SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE THROUGHOUT IRELAND. IT WAS
CALLED " FAMINE FEVER" BUT, IT WAS ACTUALLY 2 DIFFERENT DISEASES;
TYPHUS AND RELAPSING FEVER. DYSENTERY, DROPSY AND SCURVY CAUSED BY
MALNUTRITION SPREAD EVERYWHERE. PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WERE SEIZED BY PANIC TO GET
OUT OF IRELAND AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. EMIGRATION WAS LIMITED TO SPRING
AND SUMMER BECAUSE OF THE FREEZING WEATHER CONDITIONS
IN JULY AND AUGUST OF 1846, THE GREAT EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND WAS
WELL UNDER WAY. SIX THOUSAND EMIGRANTS HAD SAILED FOR LIVERPOOL
THE PREVIOUS JANUARY; TO ESCAPE THE TERRIBLE BLIGHT THAT WAS
RAVAGING THEIR HOMELAND. THERE WERE NOTORIOUS "COFFIN SHIPS"; OLD
AND CROWDED, WHOSE OWNERS ONLY WANTED TO PROFIT FROM THE POOR
ESCAPING MASS OF HUMAN BEINGS THAT WOULD PAY ALMOST ANY AMOUNT
TO BOOK PASSAGE. BY JUNE OF 1847, A HIGH PROPORTION OF EMIGRANTS HAD SAILED
TO NORTH AMERICA. MORE THAN 100,000 SAILED TO CANADA IN 1847. (THE MOST
ECONOMICAL WAY TO THE UNITED STATES AT THAT TIME, WAS USING THIS INDIRECT
ROUTE) .
1847, WAS CALLED THE "BLACK 47" AND WAS BY NO MEANS, THE END OF THE
FAMINE. TOWARD THE END OF 1847, THERE WAS A RETURN OF CONFIDENCE
BECAUSE THE BLIGHT HAD LOOSENED IT'S GRIP AND WASN'T AS BAD AS IT HAD BEEN IN
THE PREVIOUS SPRING. BY 1851, THE POPULATION OF IRELAND, HAD WENT FROM A
POPULATION OF 6 1/2 MILLION PERSONS TO 4 MILLION!
*Lanigan/ McDermott/ Phillips/ Burns/ Davis/ Sellwood/ Adams/ Shea/ Mccarty/
Clark.
** OUR FAMILY LEFT IRELAND DURING THIS TERRIBLE TIME. THEY MAY HAVE
SAILED TO CANADA FIRST. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO TRACE BACK THIS FAR.
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