Earlier this month Ancestry.com online published the Ireland, Famine Relief Commission Papers. According to Ancestry Blog, these "fantastically rich collection of Irish records 7,000 original letters were written by Irish citizens who were requesting help during the Great Famine in the mid 19th century.
Between 1845 and 1852, people in Ireland were literally starving to death as result of a disease that killed their potato crops – the staple food for Ireland’s poorest who constituted a third of the population! Overall it’s estimated that a staggering million Irish citizens died as a result of the Famine.
One record was a letter from a gentleman called Patrick Browne, written in 1847. He was a Poor law Guardian of Aughrim Parish, and was requesting funds to purchase coffins to bury 16 people who had starved to death. In response he was told that funds were for food only and coffins should be paid for by the parish"
Ancestry is available through your local public libraries in Victoria.
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