School: Ceann Caorach, Cill Crócháin (roll number 15952)

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1. The Famine

   

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   In the year eighteen-forty-seven the people suffered very bitterly on account of the potato crop being a complete failure all over the country.
   This happened because the potatoes were destroyed with the "blight". When the poor people went diging the potatoes, to their great distress they found all of them black and rotten to such an extent that they could not be eaten. The potatoes were the main support of the people now they were gone and the Country was starving.
   A great number died with hunger & some were left un-buried then came a frightful sickness they called it the "Black fever" which killed the people in hundreds.
   There is a very interesting story told about a poor family that lived in this district. They had nothing to eat and the two eldest daughters died, so the father went to work in a mine near Cork and he sent five shillings ever week to support the wife & son that remained at home. One week the money did not come so the woman waited for a few weeks and in the end the hunger pressed heavily upon both again so that they set out for Cork. On the way the son

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary O' Donovan

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Reagh, Co. Cork