My father’s grandfather was brought from County Kerry to New Orleans on a famine ship in 1850 by his father and step mother. He was eight years old. When I first saw the lazy beds in Ireland, which had not been cultivated since 1850, I cried. I don’t know if I can watch this series.
And guess what?
The British banned the Irish from owning guns.
mark this to read later
http://www.irishholocaust.org/home
One of many sources on the subject of the Irish Famine...
A famine not by a potato blight, but human caused...
Food was removed from Ireland, and the Irish people were starved...
Great-grandfather and his parents and siblings, Protestant Irish, emigrated from County Cavan to Newfoundland during the Famine. A cholera epidemic (the “Irish Disease”) hit the ship during the voyage. Everyone in the family died, except my great-grandfather and his father. It was all recorded in the family Bible they carried on the voyage that we still have.
The famine hit especially hard in southern and western Ireland. On a trip there four years ago, my wife and I observed many “famine houses,” deserted stone homes that dotted the countryside. One time we arrived at a b&b in Doolin wondering why we hadn’t seen a famine house yet. Then I opened the curtains in the room. Right across the street from the b&b was a famine house.
Phytophthora infestans, aka Late blight.
Decimated my tomatoes last year, my potatoes, which were only about ten feet away, were happy as clams!
Half my Irish family came in the 1850s. The other part came in the 1880s.
They were from County Mayo and County Galway (respectively): County Mayo was especially hard hit by the blight and famine. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the County Mayo part of the family was escaping the famine.
I don’t understand, is this a documentary coming to cable TV, the theaters or a DVD?
County Longford prior to 1836.