The Great Irish Famine An Epic of Death and Emigration -BY AWAKE! WRITER IN IRELAND

Disease and a Third Crop Failure After two successive failed potato crops and mass evictions, the decimate population had to contend with yet another savage blow. Disease!  Typhus, dysentery, and scurvy claimed more lives. Many of the survivors must have thought that things could not possibly get worse, but they were wrong. 

Encouraged by a successful crop in 1847, farmers trebled the acreage of potato planting in 1848.  Then came catastrophe! That summer proved to be very wet.  Blight struck once more.  The crop was lost for the third time in four seasons. Government agencies and charities were stretched to the breaking point. Even then, the worst was not over. In 1849 a cholera epidemic claimed the lives of a further 36,000. 

The Aftermath

The epidemic, however, marked a turning point.  The next potato crop was successful. Slowly, things turned improved.  The government enacted new laws that canceled all debts resulting from the famine.  The population begin to grow once more. Although the blight affected a few crops in the following years, there was again anything approaching the scale of the horrors that  accounted for the loss of over a quarter of Ireland's population during these tragic years of famine. 

Today, all over Ireland broken-down stone walls and ruined houses stand as a stark reminder of the harsh times that resulted in the wide-spread Irish diaspora.  In the United States alone, over 40 million can claim Irish descent. U.S. President John F.Kennedy as well as Henry Ford, inventor of the For motor car, were directly descended  from emigrants who sailed from Ireland on famine ships.  

The repeated failure of the potato crop was of course, a major factor in the sad story of death and emigration. Another important factor in this sad story was what the ancient Bible writer described as "man dominating man to his injury.' (Ecclesiastes 8:9) Thankfully, we are assured of God's Word, the Bible, that the Creator of the earth and all its produce will establish a paradisaic new world, bringing lasting peace and prosperity to all.  (2 Peter 3:13) Also, the ancient psalmist foretold:  "There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow." -Psalm 72:16. 

Next time: ARCHAEOLOGY NECESSARY FOR FAITH?

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