When I was a little girl it was quite evident that with a last name of O’Malley, I was Irish and had at least half Irish heritage, the other half being Dutch and Swiss. However, more talk of Irish seemed to be what stuck with me, as I lived in a community surrounded by Irish relatives and lots of ancestors in our local cemetery which was just about a half block from our front yard.
There wasn’t discussion about what brought our family to SE Kansas but as the years went on I learned more. Eventually, I learned about the great potato famine that struck Ireland, lasting from 1845-1852.
So what caused the “Famine” or “Great Hunger”? Well, potatoes, introduced into Ireland by people who had landed in Ireland almost a hundred years before, was a staple in the Irish diet. In fact, they depended on it when no other food was available because England and Queen Victoria had such a high tariff on grains, the potato was the only food many could afford to eat. When potato crops began to fail in 1845, Queen Victoria repealed the so-called Corn laws ( high tariffs) on most grains but that wasn’t enough. Ireland was under British rule and at the mercy of England. In fact, while people in Ireland were starving, England demanded potatoes be sent to England. It was quite evident the English government didn’t really value their subjects in Ireland. Records show large amounts of grain, livestock, and dairy products, as well as several foods were sent to Britain as the Irish people were starving.
The potato blight started in 1845 and it wasn’t until 1852 that the blight had pretty much gone away but the damage was done. Figures aren’t accurate but it is estimated over 1 million men, women and children perished of starvation while between one and probably closer to two million left Ireland, some actually going to Great Britain but many more coming to Canada and the United States. I had great, great grandparents who landed on the eastern shore of the United States and I know one great grandmother, Elizabeth, came in through Canada then through Minnesota to SEK where she and her family lived in Cokedale, a coal mining camp, southwest of Scammon, KS until she married my great grandfather David about 1874.
Our family history, like that of so many others, was full of determination, daring and hope for the future, not to mention a strong faith to get them through.
