Thursday, March 8, 2018

Famine in Ireland, and a Wee Bit o' Irish Trivia

by Kathleen L. Maher

The potato. A pivotal figure to the history of Ireland. But not quite the way you might think. First of all, it is not a native plant to the Old World, but originated in South America, and only made its way to Europe during the Sixteenth Century. Secondly, it is not that the Irish were born with a natural and insatiable love for the taste of potatoes, forsaking all other culinary fare, as lore or bad jokes would suggest. Potatoes simply fit into a system of subsistence tenant farmers who needed a food crop that would grow abundantly in the harshest conditions and poorest plots. Any good land in Ireland, where barley and oats grew, or where cattle might graze, would have been farmed for cash crops to enable a tenant to pay exorbitant rent to wealthy landowners. Potatoes, as it turned out, would grow in Ireland in such abundance that half an acre could produce enough to feed a family of two adults and four children for a year. Easily stored and preserved over winter, the starchy wonder offered sustenance long after harvest. And so it would seem that the potato was sent as a miraculous provision into this time and place. 
one of the many four-leaf clovers I find

The population of Ireland increased markedly with the cultivation of the tuber, along with dependence upon it as a staple. Intertwined among the social classes, from the very poor who ate potatoes almost exclusively, to the upper classes who filled out their menu of pork or mutton and fresh vegetables with daily portions of potato, the crop became ubiquitous to Irish life. Variety was the spice of the potato life, with different ways of preparing it such as colcannon--boiled/mashed cabbage and potato, boxty--a fried mixture of potato pancake and hash brown, Irish stew--the poorer cuts of meat mixed with potatoes and vegetables, and finally, champ mash--a spud mashed and served with spring onion, butter and/or milk. Milk typically would be skimmed for making butter or curds, and the remaining and less nutritious whey used by the peasant farmers to "make do".

So with a plentiful source of nutrition so easily adapted to their climate and needs, what could possibly go wrong?

Exhibit A) Britain's complex political climate leading up to and including the Victorian Age. Landowners held great influence, even if they were absentee landlords with holdings in Ireland. The poor held little power to influence law or policy. Irish tenant farmers had about as much political voice as the stones they tilled out of their rented fields. 

Exhibit B) English Corn Laws
A system of protecting the financial interests of these wealthy landowners evolved into high tariffs on imported grains into the British Isles. British corn and grain sold at an artificially high price because the more plentiful foreign grain was taxed too heavily to be profitable. The poor simply could not afford to pay for the luxury of eating grain.

Exhibit C) A blight of fungi on the potato crop in Europe
All of Europe began to experience a blight of dry brown rot on potatoes, but nowhere was it more keenly felt than in Ireland, where roughly half the population was utterly dependent upon the food source. From 1845-1852 the blight led to a failed crop which led to famine and death and mass emigration. One million would die of starvation, and two million would emigrate, ravaging Ireland's population to lows that have never fully recovered even to modern day.

Exhibit D) Protestant versus Catholic, and other prejudices alive and well at the time
History does indeed repeat itself. In every society where one group subjugates another, it can only do so if the common belief regarding the subjugated is one of inferiority, or even dehumanization. The Third Reich did this to Jews, Slavic peoples, Russians, and any of non-Aryan genetics. The American settlers regarded the indigenous people as savages. They sold Africans as slaves and decided by law they were only three-fifths of a human. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and enacted extermination policies when their number exceeded Egyptian ability to control them. Age-old sins of greed and pride cloud the vision of entire people groups at such sad times in history. And so it was for the Irish Catholic peasants. They were regarded as lazy, ignorant papists, somehow responsible or deserving of the disaster which had befallen them. And so relief efforts were virtually non-existent.

For a brief time, Queen Victoria and the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel worked to repeal the Corn Laws in order to alleviate some of the suffering and starvation, but Peel's success in subsidizing grain for Irish consumption had limited effect at best. His successor overturned much of what he accomplished, and what began as a crop failure became a politically engineered famine. 

Some good came out of the ashes of this fiery trial for the Irish people. For one, Ireland has always led the world in famine relief efforts ever since. In addition, Irish culture has spread far and abroad because of the mass emigration during this time. And of note, the exact blight which caused the potato crop ravages is now widely considered to be extinct. 

If you have Irish ancestry, I would love to hear any stories you have of great (great) grandparents who escaped the Potato Famine. Share in the comments below any thoughts or stories or remarks for a random chance to win a $15 Amazon gift card. I will draw the winner with the help of random.org and post one week from today on the sidebar. The luck of the Irish go with ye!

mom and Grandpa Cronin
I'll start by sharing of my great grandfather, John Cronin. He was born in Ireland, I believe in County Cork, in 1849. I'm not certain exactly what year he and his family emigrated to America, but it was during the Great Famine. He grew up in New York City, and enlisted at the age of fifteen in the NY Fighting Irish 69th regiment in the Civil War. He served in the Color Guard, and saw action at the Siege of St. Petersburg, and was present at Appomattox and at the Grand Review in Washington D.C. after the war. He helped organize the St Patrick's Day parade in later years in Manhattan. Family legend has it that it was during his last participation in that parade that he contracted pneumonia and subsequently died. My grandfather, Vincent Cronin, was his seventh son. Vincent's youngest child was my mother, Alicia Cronin (Talvi). I am her youngest. So that is how I have only four generations separating me from that tumultuous time in Irish and American history.

I am roughly half Irish. I married a good Irishman, as my married surname says. And I have to admit, I not only love Irish history, but I actually love potatoes, too. As a kiss from heaven, our only daughter was born on Saint Patrick's Day. Katie Megan Maher, in fifth grade, dressing up to present her biographical report on on Saint Patrick.

Slainte! (Good Health)

 Post Script from last month's post about dogs: Meet the Maher's newest addition, "Bailey", AKC Bailey's Irish Cream. She is a brown and white Landseer Newfoundland. 




Kathleen L. Maher’s first literary crush was Peter Rabbit, and she’s had an infatuation with books and fictional heroes ever since. She has a novella releasing with Barbour in the 2018 Victorian Christmas Brides collection, featuring her hometown of Elmira, NY. Her debut historical “Bachelor Buttons” was released in 2013, and incorporates her Irish heritage and love of the American Civil War. She won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest for unpublished writers, historical category, in 2012.

Kathleen and her husband raised their three children in an old farmhouse in upstate NY, along with a small zoo of rescued dogs, cats, and birds. They run an art business in their spare time and enjoy spoiling their grandchildren on the weekends.







33 comments:

  1. I don't know if there is any Irish in my family lines, but I have always loved stories of the Irish people and culture. Thanks for the history lesson!!

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    1. This month your honorary Irish Connie! ;-)

      We probably have your email somewhere but if you wanna leave it again just to be sure that would be great! Just so I can contact you in case you win. Good luck!

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  2. No family stories related to Ireland and the Potato Famine. This was a great post filled with history tidbits. Thank you for sharing. marilynridgway78[at]gmail[dot]com

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    1. Thank you Marilyn. I’m so glad you stopped by. I will enter you. Good luck!

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  3. I found your post very interesting. Thank you for sharing! I love potatoes but I don't believe I have any Irish in my history.

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    1. We will make you honorary Irish this month as well Melanie ;-)

      Thanks for visiting. Good luck in the drawing!

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  5. Thanks for visiting, Mitchell! If you want to be entered please leave us a way to contact, ie youremail(at)serverDOTcom

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  6. Hi Kathy! Great post! I'm a quarter Irish and was looking up my Irish immigrant ancestors again the other day. I have more than one set I believe and one looks to have arrived before the famine but another had arrived near that time and both perished at about the same time, here. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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    1. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you Carrie. Like the song goes we’re proud of all the Irish blood that’s in us. ;-)

      I will be intrigued to learn your family’s history as you learn more about it and I hope it shows up in one of your wonderful stories.

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  7. I have characters in my Ireland-set mystery with the last name of Cronin! (they're charming. No worries!) The problem with a mono-culture (everyone planting a lot of potatoes) is the quick spread of pests. Fungal diseases love a good Irish climate!

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    1. Please tell us the name of this wonderful book you have written about my people ;-) seriously I would love to read it. Thanks for visiting and good luck in the drswing.

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    2. Cover reveal is coming on St. Patrick's Day as a matter of fact! I chose my setting because of my visit there in 2017. I'll make sure you know, Kathy!

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  8. What a fascinating post! I supposedly have some Irish heritage, but it may be more legend than truth. Genealogy searches haven't revealed any ties yet. But I married well - my husband is half Irish. His family came over to America before the famine. lindasmatchett(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. Hi Linda. So great to have you visit. We won’t even have to make you honorary Irish because it seems you are part of the clan. ;-)

      Happy St. Patrick’s Day and good luck in the drawing

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  9. Both of my great-great-grandfathers immigrated from Germany in the early 19th century and one of them married a woman from Nova Scotia. My grandmother said she believed there was some English and Scotch in her background, but she didn't know for sure. I'm the oldest of our generation and have been trying to research the answers. I love anything Irish and enjoyed reading about your ancestry. My novel, Autumn Song, has an Irish family named Muldoon and my heroine is Kathleen (Kate).

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    1. Ah, Kate Muldoon. She sounds lyrical. Can’t resist the lilt of a lovely Irish name. Thank you for commenting Martha. And thank you for sharing a bit about your ancestors history.

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  10. You sure do know your potatas! And your history!
    I specially love your conclusion, that despite the tragedy of the famine, the world has been blessed by the spread of Irish culture. It reminds me of the scattering of Israel, and the miracle of the preservation of that nation.
    Oh yeah, and your Irish ancestry is eerily similar to mine… ;-)

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    1. Ha ha Nancy, I would say our ancestry is identical ;-)

      Thank you for joining us today. And a happy St. Patrick’s Day to the Carmichael clan. I have your email so good luck in the contest.

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  11. From doing genealogy research, I know some of my ancestors were Irish. Sadly though, I don't know anything about their lives. I sure wish I did. Interesting post!

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    1. Thank you Vicki. I bet your people have so many stories to tell. Who knows? Maybe you’ve already told them Through your wonderful characters. Thanks for commenting

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  12. So interesting, Kathy. Thanks for sharing. My kids bought their dad a genetic test from ancestry.com and it shows his family coming from the Scotland or Ireland area. Joe believes it was Ireland because he remembers his father talking about his great-grandfather saying he hoped to live long enough to walk knee-deep in protestant blood. Little did the man know that he would be speaking of his grandson and great grandchildren. Joe's great-grandfather was born in the 1820's.

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    1. Yeah that sounds like an Irishman! My grandmother called protestants “the other kind”. Little did she know we would all become born again and leave the Catholic Church. They were characters back then, all right.
      Thanks for commenting!

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  13. I'm not Irish American, but I love reading about different ethnic groups.

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    1. So glad you came by. Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you in case you win the random drawing.

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  14. I am named for both of my grandmothers; my maternal grandmother's maiden name was Lien and my paternal grandmother, whom I never knew, her first name is my middle name. I am half-Irish. I inherited the love of music. :) Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net

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    1. Hi, Kathleen! It’s wonderful to have a sense of family history, to know about our parents and grandparents struggles and triumphs.

      Thank you for commenting. Good luck on the drawing!

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  15. Great post Kathleen, thanks for sharing.
    I have done some genealogy on my family & from what I can tell there are German ancestors but not sure if any were from Ireland.
    Blessings,Tina
    KINGsDaughter5683 (at) gmail (dot) com

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    2. My mother was starting to do geneological research before she died two years ago. It must be fascinating to uncover things you didn’t know about your ancestors. Thanks for coming by! Good luck in the drawing

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  16. Mrs. Tina, congratulations. Random.org selected you as the winner for the gift card. Hope this makes your St. Patrick’s Day celebration even better!
    Will send you an email shortly.

    Thanks to everyone for entering. Keep reading!

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  17. Wow! Thank you so much Kathy!
    Have a great St.Patrick's Day!
    Blessings, Tina

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