School: Adoon (roll number 11152)

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1. The Famine

   

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   The country was thickly populated till the famine came. The famine came in the year 1846 and it lasted till 1847. The farmers sold their oats before the famine and they dug their potatoes and put them in heaps and when they looked at them again they were all decayed.

   Then they had the oats sold and they could make no meal. It is said that when the people died they were buried. They had a coffin fixed for the purpose hey had an open bottom on it and they used to throw the people into a bit pit and bring the coffin back with them. Some of the people had a few hundreds of small potatoes and when it came to the time to set them they shook them like oats.

   When the famine was almost gone there came a very bad disease and the people died in great numbers. They were got along roads and in bogs and them dead. At that time it is said a man lived on decayed potatoes. The government sent meal to the people but they were not able to buy it and in this way the people were all weakened and it took them a long time to get strong again.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   P.J. Reynolds

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Lisomadaun, Co. Leitrim