'An tOcras Mór' The Great Hunger.

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This note is for Co Cavan During the time of 1845/50 The Great Unger

Please feel free to add any information you may have about Co Cavan 1845/50

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The Great Famine in Cavan

By Ciaran Parker & Anna Sexton

The Great Irish Famine was, to quote a cliché, a disaster waiting to happen. Between 1750 and 1850 Ireland’s population grew beyond a level at which it could sustain itself. Much of this demographic growth was based on the availability of one food item and when this was withdrawn not just once, but on successive occasions, it resulted in widespread destitution. This was worsened by the structural and ideological failure of those in authority to provide for their sustenance and to prevent the resultant spread of disease.

The population of Ireland on the eve of the Famine stood in excess of 8 millions. The population of Co. Cavan alone was just short of 250,000 – nearly five times its present population. The reasons for this demographic ballooning, which had occurred in the space of little over a century, can be traced to the availability of the potato which provided food security for peasant farmers with little land of indifferent quality. Not surprisingly the potato was adopted with alacrity throughout Ireland, unlike the hostile reception it initially received elsewhere in Europe.

Hardship before the Famine

In Cavan and throughout the northern half of Ireland the advent of flax cultivation and domestic linen production had augmented a further security. Areas supplying linen markets like Cootehill became semi-industrialised, as cottages and cabins were modified to deal with the various processes involved in the process of turning flax fibres into cloth. This was sometimes accompanied by the neglect of farm-based food production. When, after 1825 the cottage linen industry collapsed in the face of mechanised production in factories near Belfast, many areas of Ireland, including Co. Cavan, experienced widespread destitution. Ireland lacked industries which could have absorbed surplus agricultural populations, as was the case in the north of England. However there was a growth in urban populations as towns, including Cavan and Cootehill (amongst others) attracted settlers from their rural hinterlands in search of greater though non-existent prosperity of the towns who were confined to unhealthy yet extensive shanty-towns on their peripheries.

The mid 1840s were years of increased tension in Cavan. Acts of physical violence became common. In May 1845 James Gallagher, the under-agent on the Enerys’ estates at Ballyconnell was badly assaulted and died later the same day with forgiveness on his lips for his assailants. Three months later the unpopular George Bell Booth of Crossdoney was assassinated. December 1847 saw the death of the well-known controversialist Father Thomas Maguire. His passing was widely attributed to poisoning, though as the late Fr Dan Gallogly pointed out, this might have been administered by members of his own erstwhile flock who were dissatisfied with his denunciations of physical force methods.

Failure of response to the potato crop destruction

The response of the authorities of the time to the successive destruction of the potato crop was wholly inadequate. The actions they took were not motivated by racist theories, but by their near religious devotion to ideological fads of the time like Utilitarianism and “Political Economy”. It was not the responsibility of a government to provide for its poor. If there was any responsibility it was on the part of the pauper to behave thriftily and thus keep the wolf of destitution from his miserable cabin door. Such theories underlay the paltry responses that were enacted during the Famine, such as the provision of outdoor relief in return for food, as well as the construction of hideous workhouses. These cynical measures were a central part of the ‘Poor Law’ system established in England in the 1830s in an attempt to reform a slightly more generous form of public welfare that had existed for nearly three centuries whose provision had become too punitive and burdensome for wealthy tax payers.

The system of land tenure, based on landlordism, has often been blamed for the Famine. It did not cause it, but the response of Cavan’s proprietarial class, whether absentee or resident, was shamelessly ambivalent. Their tenantry belonged to a different, subservient orbit whose duties comprised the provision of rent so that their overlords could pursue lives of leisure, ease and indolence . The Barons Farnham, who had attempted (unsuccessfully) to stamp out subdivision of already miniscule holdings by their tenants, did little to alleviate their hardships. Indeed they were enthusiastic evictors of tenants who were unable to pay their rent, although they showed no religious favouritism in this.

But there were exceptions, albeit amongst the smaller landlords. Folklore from the Blacklion area records the activities of a Mr. Nixon who travelled the roads and lanes in search of the starving whom he would bring home to feed. There was also the example of Mr. Tatlow, a minor landlord from Crosserlough. A series of letters to the newly-founded Anglo-Celt recorded how a cart carrying a fever-infected girl to Cavan town’s fever hospital was disabled when its axle broke. Passing vehicles refused to give the girl and her guardian a lift, no doubt fearing infection. Then along came Mr Tatlow’s well-appointed trap, whose owner was only too happy to provide transport. The girl’s ultimate fate is unknown, but it can be assumed.

In Co. Cavan there were some truly inhuman acts of heartlessness. One of these was the eviction of tenants in Mountnugent, researched and described by Patricia Darcy. In September 1847 the tenants of a number of adjoining townlands were evicted from their cottages which were then demolished. No quarter was given to the aged or the infirm who were all equally cast upon the caprices of nature. Other tenants were warned not to give them shelter or assistance. This incident was particularly horrifying because it was spurred by the greed of a number of Irish land-speculators. The tenants who were the object of this inhumanity had not even been remiss in the payment of their rent.

A patchwork effect

The famine did not cast a pall of universal misery affecting the whole of the people of Ireland. Some areas were badly hit, while neighbouring parishes escaped fairly lightly. Amongst the first areas to be affected by the Famine in Co. Cavan was Blacklion and its vicinity, through which starvation and disease cut their deathly swathe; yet the neighbouring parish of Glangevlin was only lightly touched. The folklore recorded in the 1930s tells of refugees coming there from as far away as Co. Galway in search of food, and being satisfied with raw cabbage.

Winners and losers

The Famine in Cavan, in common with the rest of Ireland, had its winners and losers. Alas the former numerically surpassed the former. Those who were already poor and badly-fed were most vulnerable to the food disruption and attendant diseases, and those who came into contact with them, like doctors, were also prone to fall victim to the lethal cocktail of viruses that escaped from the Famine’s Pandora’s box. Others whose positions in society allowed them to eschew contact with the teeming masses, who could afford better food, enjoy more favourable hygiene and heating were insulated from its effects. It is true that while Ireland was in the grip of famine there was no shortage of food in the country. Profits were also made by merchants who exported agricultural items.

Co. Cavan after the Famine

One of the most poignant observations on the Famine was made by a respondent from Blacklion to the Irish Folklore Commission nearly nine decades later. They said pithily that after the Famine there were fewer people around. The population of the county fell by nearly 29 per cent between 1841 and 1851. Part of this was due to starvation- and disease-induced mortality. A significant part was also due to emigration to England and America, a haemorrhage which was to continue late in to the next century.

The Famine also had its impact on the landscape, leaving as its architectural legacy a handful of gaunt poor houses that could never shake off their initial associations with want and destitution. There were also the cottages abandoned by their occupants. These often were preserved in their increasing dereliction by the notion that they were haunted by the spirits of those who had once dwelt there. Quite a number of minor roads throughout the county were also constructed by emaciated human beings in return for paltry wages and food rations.

The Great Famine has been used, or rather misused, along with other historical events, by those who see themselves as the unquestioned guardians of “historical truth” to buttress opinions and policies on which it has no bearing, and to enforce erroneous interpretations. Its “discussion” has often been attended by the spinning of myth and fantasy on the one hand; or dry and unsympathetic number-crunching by economic historians on the other, who forgets that the events of 1845-47 were an immense human tragedy. While not the first outbreak of hunger and disease to hit Ireland it was undoubtedly the most dramatic.

It should not be seen in geographical isolation. Famines later in the century in China and Brazil were equally devastating in their own contexts, while the series of droughts suffered by southern Indian farmers from 1876 to 1900 not only carried off substantial portions of the population, but were met with the same hypocritical response that famine victims had received in Ireland three decades earlier.

The Famine was a disaster waiting to happen, but did that mean it was inevitable? Might it have been avoided altogether? Hindsight is always blessed by 20/20 acuity. In the middle of the nineteenth century the cause of the destruction of the potato crop was unknown. In the century and a half since the Famine the world has gained greater knowledge about climate, nutrition and the dynamics of destitution – yet famines, accompanied by epidemics still occur and their baleful effects are as often inspired as mitigated by Man.

WHEN GENOCIDE BECAME "FAMINE" : IRELAND, 1845 - 1850

With regards several family members in the same home or internet cafe all wanting to sign this petition at the same time Yes this can be done .

Any amount of people in a household/Cafe can sign it .

There is no problems with all you're family & friends using the same internet account .

Each signature requires its own email address

We do need signatures, not just shares

http://www.petitions24.com/when_famine_became_genocide_ireland_1845_-_1850

Emigration from Cavan

Deaths in RC Parish of Enniskeen, Co. Cavan from 1846 to 1850

From September 1846 to April 1847 From April 1, 1847June 1847 January 1848

2nd Bridget Conley Tullabirck

Michl. Donagh Bracklin

Bessy Monaghan Hospital

11th Patt. Hoye Luther

12th Alice Burns Drumskerry

Catherine McKane Corlea

Peter Clarke Lis(?)

13 Hugh Ward Muff

14 Miles Farrely Colps

Ann Murray Cornema

17 Phill. Smith ?"

19th Catherine McCannon Cop-----

20 Bessy Kiernan Corna------

20 Widow Reilly Corryholm

20 Mary Farrelly Colp

20 Barth White Cortob-----

21 Mary Biggy Kings

22 Bridget Farrelly Guill-----!

22 Michl. Finnegan Cornasa-----

25 Elisabeth Carolan Cortobon

27 Judith Briens Kingscourt

30 Patt. Neil Mullen-----

February 1848

1 Mary Gainer Kingscourt

4 Frank Lynch Lisnaasna$

- Peter and Mary Smith Drums------

8 Patt. Boylan Tory Bush

10 Bryan McGuirk Kingscourt

16 James McDermott Corna----

19 Terce McEntee Corema

19 Ann Linneghan(?) Corema

20 Margt. Phillips Kingscourt

- Widow Monaghan Hospital

23 Catherine Hand Mor-------"

- Patt. Cafidy(Cassidy?) Bracklin#

- Michl. McLoughlin Carrick------

27 Cormac McEntee Corna------

28 Owen O'Neill Cop------

- Rose Maguire Cornsk------

- Tom Finley Drums--------

March 1848

1 Patt. Wade Bracklin

9 Honora Chriten Kingscourt

12 Mrs. Hicks Plantation

13 Luke Farrelly Gull------

13 Ellen Jones Eden----!

14 Bridget Halton Corry-------

23 Matthew Reilly Corto------

25 Ellen Leavey Hospital

26 Ellen Depper Kingscourt

April 1848

2nd Bryan McBride Carvady

3 Ellen Farley Lahart

5 ------ Gearty Corn------

8 Bryan Smith Kingscourt

13 Elisabeth Sheridan Lara

- Bridget Carrolan ?

May (probably includes June 1848)

Patt McCause Drumskerry

Biddy Smith Carrick------

Peter Ward Corryholmer

Bridget Keelan Kingscourt

July 1848

July 10 Bridget Mugoman Plantation"

July 10 James Campaign Drum-----

23 John Reilly Cornago"

--- James Clarke Mullin Cro----"

27 ______ Roach Kingscourt

28 Patt. Duffey Rola%

28 Margaret Davison Plantation

August 1848

Aug. 2 Sara Clarke Bracklin

7 John Lynch Mulim----)

8 Catherine Earley (Easley?) Corlea#

9 Catherine Roach Kingscourt"

10 James Martin Kingscourt

-- Luke Bale Cornavra"

14 John Fitzsimmons Coppoma

15 Mary Ward Carrickleck

21 Philip Laney(?) Moyer%

21 Catherine Conley Kingscourt%

" ____________Reilley Hospital

24 Ann McCann Corgl(?)$

26 Phill. Tumulty Coringa(?)

26 Margaret Reilly Cor(?)

September 1848

Sep. 20 Catherine Lynch Corvalis

21 Phil Farrelly Drum(?)"

21 Owen Carolan Plantation

- Ann Reilly Cortobbin

24 Terrence Smith Rath !

29 Catherine Lynch Corvalis

October 1848

Oct. 7 Patt Smith Gorteen

-- Catherine Curtis Drumskerry

11 Betty Lynch Gullion

12 Mrs. Peter Muldoon Colps

14 Nancy Berry Lisrea

17 Owen Reilly Corvalis

24 Mary Martin Turners Hill

26 Peter Lyiff(?) Hospital

27 James Reilly Corto(?)

-- Ally Gargan Corter(?)

November 1848

Nov. 2 Widow Carolan Lisa(?)

2 Bernard Brady Kingscourt

7 Mary Hughes Hospital

11 John Connell Kingscourt

Phill Breen Belt(?)

11 Tom Hand Morna

24 Mary Holmes Hospital

26 Bridget Gargan Cap(?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBp9WnBuEAI The Famine Experience in Cavan. A report made to the Anglo Celt on 28th May 1848.

http://www.cavanmuseum.ie/Default.aspx?StructureID_str=11 In this exhibit

In the Famine Gallery, you will find authentic shoes from a famine grave, a famine pot from Bailieborough Workhouse as well as contemporary images of the famine and its disastrous consequences. There is also a reconstruction of a decrepit famine cottage and of the dreaded workhouse.

The Great Famine

The Great Famine or the Great Hunger is the name given to the famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1849. The Famine was partly due to "the (potato) Blight" that almost instantly destroyed the primary food source for many Irish. The blight explains crop failure; but the famine had other factors, including economic, political, social and religious  http://www.cavanmuseum.ie/Default.aspx?StructureID_str=11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEEnw3sBQMs

Bawnboy Workhouse, Co. Cavan, Ireland - A film of this sad place

In June 2011 we visited Bawnboy Workhouse or Union Buildings....

Great Irish Famine 1846 Cavan & Longford Landlord To Tenant Notice Ireland Print http://www.ebay.com/.../Great-Irish-Famine.../200911954705

Cavan Poor Law Union was formally declared on 27th November 1839, and covered an area of 279 square miles. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 30 in number, representing its 23 electoral divisions as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

Co. Cavan: Arvagh, Ballyconnell (2), Ballyhaise (2), Ballymachugh, Bellintemple, Belturbet (2), Butlersbridge, Cavan (3), Crossdoney, Crosskeys, Denn, Derrylane, Drumlane (2), Kilconny (2), Kildallan, Kill, Killashandra, Killycrone, Killykeen, Kilualeck, Newsun, Redhills, Stradone.

The Board also included 10 ex officio Guardians, making a total of 40. The Guardians met each week on Tusday.

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 83,604 with Divisions ranging in size from Kildallan (population 2,211) to Cavan itself (7,030).

The new workhouse, built in 1841-2, was designed by George Wilkinson. It occupied a nine-acre site a mile to the north of CavCavan town. It could accommodate 1,200 inmates, making it Ulster's largest workhouse. The cost of the building was £10,500 plus £2,000 for fixtures and fittings etc. It was declared fit for the admission of paupers on 26th March 1842, and admitted its first inmates just under three months later on the 17th June

In many respects Cavan was typical of the more considerable towns in South Ulster' Like its neighbours, Clones, Monaghan, Belturbet, and Enniskillen, it did not have a significant market in linen cloth and so it depended for its prosperity on the farming of its immediate district. Like other county towns of Monaghan and Enniskillen it did profit from the increasing activities of the grand juries in local government as they created some employment and attracted professional people, who in their turn raised standards, notably in housing. Elsewhere the size of a town did not necessarily relate to the importance of its markets. Belturbet was a corporate town with a distillery, a brewery and malt-houses, and an excellent market house but an ‘indifferently supplied' market because local people preferred to deal in the reviving market of Ballyhayes, while Bailieborough ‘is a very mean village but has an excellent market ... some butter for market which is brought -up for Newry exports, as also are their pigs, which make a considerable article of trade ... Though it had been a principal stage on the northern road, it is ‘now without an inn.' Virginia he condemned as ‘A very mean market town' while Batllyjamesduff was ‘only to be observed as a stage on the road to Cavan town' http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcav/cavan2.htm

Irish Holocaust - Not Famine. The Push to educate in facts. December 1848 (Start of new page, assumed to be December)

Elen Goore Newcastle

Margt Maguire

alias McCormack Poles

James Connelly Gorteen

Richd Chiston Muff

Rose Clinch Brachlin

Mary Martin I. Kingscourt

Mary Lamb Drumskerry

29 Patt Kingley Brachlin

January (assumed) 1849

1 Lawrence Finnelly Enniskeen

Catherine Halton Hospital

Mary Lamb Lisagoen

6 Hugh Reilly Kingscourt

6 Michael Farrelly Coppona

8 John Carolan Kingscourt

13 Rose Maginnis Lisrea

20 Chs. Smith Hospital

24 Widow Clarke Mullinscrop"

25 Lawrence Coris(?) Carrickleck

-- Frank McKale(?) Tahart

29 Arthur McMahon Cornasase

February 1849

Feb. 1 Betty Campbell Colps

3 Jane McGuire Kingsct

4 Bridget Farrelly Closa(?)

4 Peter Carolan Carrickleck%

-- Widow Fitzsimmons Corto(?) Cavan

9 Peter Gargan Billingsly

9 Widow Carney Carnasas

14 Widow Ward Kingscourt

17 Ann Carrolan Lislea

18 Ann Murrow Cornesma

19 Andrew McCannon Bina

19 Tom Fitzpatrick Kingscourt

Bridget Lynch Guillion

20 Tom Hoye New Castle

-- John Moran Irvey#

23 Bessy Reilly & child Enniskeen

March 1849

Mar. 1 Mary McEntee Hospital

-- Ann Hand & child Tulla(?)

5 Rose McCann Drumskerry

Mar 10 Phill Clarke Bracklin

12 Nest(?) Carrolan Kingscourt

15 Widow Connoly Kingscourt

16 James Garry Corlea

18 Ann Clarke Co. K(?)

19 Hugh McDaniel Hospital

20 Garrett Reilly D(?)

22 Patt Trainer Kingscourt

22 Mary Pepperd Plantation

-- Mary Greenan Plantation

23 William Weldon Drum-----#

26 Widow Crosby Kngt Pepperd ----

30 Patt Rooney Kingscourt

31 James Moore Cornay

-- Thos McKenna Cortob-----

April 1849

Apr. -- Christy Carrolan Carrickleck

-- Mary Carrolan Heath(?)$

-- Mrs. McCombs-Conwerth Kingscourt

2nd Mary Fitzsimmons Mur-----

4 John Ward Rath----

6 John Rogers Kingscourt

-- Ann Curtis Tulla(?)

-- James Reilly Lisagoen

13 Lawrence Piegeon Mulina---

-- Bridget O'Connell Rola!

15 Christopher Gogerty Milltown

15 Alice Brady Turners Hill

19 John Carrolan Muff

24 John Murphy Kingscourt

25 John Neal(?) Coppa---

26 Patt Lynch Bracklin

26 Miles Carolan Hospital

27 James Hand Plumm(?)

30 Rose Maguire Kingscourt

May 1849

May 1st Bridget Begg Kingscourt

6 Elen Farrelly Carrickleck

12 Terence Farmer Carrick----

12 Patt Cassidy Kingscourt

13 Widow Boylan Rasa(?)

-- Widow Conlan Kingscourt

15 Widow McEntee Coppen----

20 Phill Martin Carrick----

23 Widow McCormick Kingscourt

29 Bryan Clarkan Lisagoen

June 1849

June 3 Patt Callan Bracklin

8 Margaret Reilly Rola

12 Patt Finley Hospital

-- Margt. Tierney Corna---

13 Anne Sheenan Carrick----

15 Bryan Monahan Rath(?)

21 Patt Dooley Cornary

-- Patt Jones Bracklin

July 1849

July 1 Bryan Carpenter Bracklin

-- Mary McGuirk Kingscourt

3 Phil Maleady Corperna

4 Edwd. Carrolan Cornavan

-- Ann Smith Carrickleck

5 Mrs. Darrigan Drumsmillar

Math. Boyle Drumsalla

6 Michl McEntee Muff

9 Michl. Conly Hospital

9 Jas. Brady Lisagoen#

10 Mrs. E. Carolan Cortoban Meath

-- John Reilly Carrickleck

13 Mrs. Moantain Langhanlea

July 14 Rose Clark Luther

20 Lawrence Clarke Brachlin'

26 Bridget McCabe Turners Hill Kingct

29 Wilton(?) Burns Drumsmillar

-- Terence Farley Colps

August 1849

Aug 2 John Martin Carrickleck

James Owens Milltown

12 Patt Monaghan Irvey

13 Mary Lynch Plantation

15 Richd. Murray Lara Muff

Patt Doogan Cortoban Meath

30 Bridget Carrolan Poles

-- Bridget Moohan Corlea

September 1849

Sep 1 Catherine Martin Kingsct Hospital

20 Stephen Carrolan Bara

21 Bryan Ward Luther(

-- Mary Coleman Wid. Kingsct Hospital

23 Bridget Ward Luther

25 Andy Fitzsimmons Ralohan

30 James White Lisagoen

October 1849

Oct. 2 Nancy Biggy Kingscourt

9 John Weldon Cornakill$

9 Terence Brady Kingsct. Hospital!

12 Robt. McEntegerth Kingscourt

November 1849

Nov. 7th Catty Crodden Drumpeak(?)

2nd William Vernon Kingscourt

18 Peter Reynolds Irvey

Nov 20 John Keenan Lwr. Colps

December 1849

Dec 6 Honora Hand Colps

9 Peggy Farley Closemab(?)

13 John Farley Carrickleck

14 Bridget Conley Tullabrick

15 Betty Reilly Morna

-- Patt Farley Tahart

18 _______ Merriman Drummillar$

23 Mrs. Jas. Birmingham Kingscourt"

26 Bridget Doogan Cortaban Meath

28 Widow Donnelly Copena

29 Owen Connelly Rola

January 1850

Jan 2 Tom Curry Cooper Kingscourt

-- Md? Coote Kingscourt!

-- Catherine McMahon Plantation

-- ----- Burnette New Castle

-- Patt McKenna Poles$

-- Robert McEntegert(?) Kingscourt!

Jan 10 Betty Hughes Kingscourt

13 Mary Reilly Edenford

22 Betty Carolan Poles

-- Mrs. Ward Mittry

27 Ma(inkblot) Moore Bellowghy

28 Mary Carolan Hospital

February 1850

Feb 2 John McCabe Lisagoen

-- Tom Barnett Bracklin

-- Thos. Reilly Bracklin

14 Mary Kagley(?) Hospital

-- Bessy McMahon Copema

16 John Hand Hospital

Feb -- John Derry(?) Rolahan

-- Rose Rorke Irvey

26 Mary Sullivan Carrickleck

-- Terence King Hospital

March 1850

Mar 3 Patt Connor Cab(?)

-- Margaret Guil(?) Kingscourt

9 Mary Finegan Corlea

10 Ellen Smith (widow) C.Clek

-- (?) Reynolds Hospital

Patt. Carlin (?) M(?)

16 Widow Caffrey Bellary

17 E(?) Baird Cortorbe(?)

19 Peter Cassidy Hospital

22 Patt. Brady Kingscourt

23 Elen Smith(?) Ma(?)

24 Patt. McBride Kingscourt

24 Tom Cassidy Drum-----!

-- Catherine Carrolan Kill-----

-- Patt. Hoye Rath-----"

25 Biddy Fitzpatrick Kingscourt]

NOTE: From April 1850 through October 1850, the months are a "best guess" situation.

April 1850

Apr 1 Owen Marrow & Brother Colps

4 Biddy Reilly Mari-----

-- Edward Lagrine Cabra----

7 Mary Carrolan Cornama

9 Patt. Conly Hospital

-- Denis Sheridan Copema

11 Ellen Smith Lisrea

-- Owen McCormick Cort---

16 Tom Farrelly Tahert

May 1850

May 1 Catherine McEntee Taghart

May John Pidgeon Multenmalrop

2 Catherine Reilly Plantation

5 Patt. Reilly Morehill"

Catherine Mingrahm(?) Kingscourt

Patt. Rush Morehill

Moses Magaman Corryholmar

James Duffy Gullins

Michael Clarke Coppema

John Tinley Corglops

6 Anne Connelly Kingscourt

12 Peter Muldoon Colps

-- Sally Gaynor Plantation

-- John(?) Sweeney Hospital

14 Rose McCabe Moyre

17 John Lynch Copenma

18 Mary Clarke Coppona

-- Thos. Lynch Plantation

22 Mary King Lisrea

June 1850

Jun 7th Cristy Cooper Cornavan

11 Thady Clarke Poles

12 Owen McEntgert Cornakill

14 ------ McMahon Forthag

14 Connor Muldoon Cordor

19 Mary Cassidy Bracklin?

20 Hugh Ward Hospital 26 James Reilly Cornakill/Carvady

July 1850

17 Ann Mathews Carrickaleck

18 Pat Cassidy Carrickaleck

28 Anne Martin Cornama

August 1850

Aug 7 Tom Lynch Plantation

-- Widow Hand Luther

18 Peter Daniel Colps

23 Bridget Caullan Hospital

September 1850

20 Thady Carolan Lara

25 Bryan Lynch Corviles

October 1850

4 Peter McGivney Billaoghly

5 Cathn. Nolan Rathlogan

17 Widow Conley Raigh(?)

23 Thomas Duffy Corglaph

November 1850

4 Tom Lynch Kilna(?)

Barney Reilly Carvilas

Finian Daniel Colps

29 Ellen McGivney Lisagoren

29 James Trim(?) Moyre

Emigration from Cavan

Deaths in RC Parish of Enniskeen, Co. Cavan from 1846 to 1850

From September 1846 to April 1847 From April 1, 1847June 1847

? Tinly Drumsalla

(offering by Widow Brady?)

? Carrolan Enniskeen"

Nicholas Sheakey Cortu(?) Meath

Peter Monaghan Iv(?)

Patt. Connelly Colps

James(?) Duncan(?) Con(?)

James Bellew Hilltown

? Farrelly Drum(?)

? Boyle Corlass

? Dunn ?

Tim(?) Finnegan Cornema

? Gologhy Coryholman

Patt. Duffy Bracklin

Pill. Rorke Kings

Patt. Reilly

Peter Clarke Coppema$

John(?) Dattain(?) Cornavan Meath

? Marion Cornavan Meath

Robt. Daly Guillam

Phill. Reilly Luther

Phill. Colerick Copperna

Mary Hughes Cornema

Bridget Tully Corryholm Lake

Richard Kelly Dunigan

John Ward Corryholman Lake

August 1847

Lawrence Healy ----------

18 John Warren Cornema

- Mary Ward Lisagoen

22 John Hicks Honfor(?)

22 James Murray Cornakill!

22 Owen Fitzpatrick Carricklick

22 Mich. Sheekey Hospital

- Mary McMahon Irvey(?)

23 Catherine Cluskey Hospital

25 Betty McEntee Copperna

25 Rose Tully Coryholman

28 Ann Cahill Cornavan

29 Nancy Kelly Kingscourt

" James Reilly (child) Lahart

" Neal McGuirk Kingscourt

September 1847

1 Tom White Lisagoen

" Mary Cassidy Kingscourt

3 Bridget Lynch Corvalis!

4 Mary Reilly or Neal Mallin(?)

9 Bryan Brady Coppema

9 Ann McReina(?) Cortober

9 Patt. Brady Lisagoen

- John Crawley Leithum

13 Bridget White Hospital

19 Nelly Finegan Cornema

- Margt Brady Cortaben

- Patt. Realon Hospital

- Michl. Burris Dunheda

- James McEntee Corlop

- Andrew Brady Hospital

October 1847

6 Ann Smith Roth

Oct. - Ann Morrow Cornema

10 Catherine Weldon Drumsulla

12 Bridget Kealaw Plantation

16 John Murray Plantation

16 Phill. Green Carricklick

17 Owen Lynch Balla(?)

17 Edw. Daly Tory Bush#

18 Catherine Farrelly Upper Colps

20 Patrick Carrolan Kingscourt

25 John Carrolan Muff

- Biddy Hand Luther

- Cath. Hughes Hospital

28 Philip Clarke Hospital

29 Henry Cooke Mullintree

November 1847

3rd Judith Gargan Leitham

6th Francis Maleady Coperma

7th Murray Plantation

13th Mary Sheridan Hospital

15th Mary Doherty Hospital

" Peter Donegan Hospital

13th Mary Ward Corryholman

17th John Smith Kingscourt

17th Patrick Fitzsimmons Lara

18th Philip Tumulty Billoughby

19th John Pogue Copema

December 1847

8 Tom White Cortobin Meath

9 Widow McGovern Hospital!

16 Barney Murray Turner's Hill#

- John Trean and Wife Drumskerry

17 Michl. Lynch Colps

17 Elen Smith Kingscourt

Rose Byrnes Hospital

Mary Ward Hospital

Catherine Markey Hospital

Mary McEnery Irvey

Widow Martin Corlops

Phill. Carolan Hospital

Luke T. Kelly C. (?)

Dick White Cortobin

Emigration from Cavan

Deaths in RC Parish of Enniskeen, Co. Cavan from 1846 to 1850 May 1847

Bridget Conley Plantation

M. Gargan Drumbar

Bridget Biggy Poles

Michael Clarke Bracklin

James Finnegan Tory Bush

Michael Cooney Bracklin

? Reilly Con(?)

Widow Monaghan Enniskeen

Lawrence Farrelly Morna

? Clarke Mullaboy

Hugh Trainor Lisagoen

Bridget Moore Lisagoen

? Brady Lisagoen

? Hamilton Corlop?

Widow Reilly Lisgoen

Tom Conley Corlea#

May 1847 ? Connelly Corrigan(?)

? Lamb Gorteen

? Reilly Drumbar

Patrick Bindy (?) Drumkill

Michael Brady Tory

James Smythe Kingscourt!

Phillip Carrolan Cort(?) Meath

Emigration from Cavan

Deaths in RC Parish of Enniskeen, Co. Cavan from 1846 to 1850

From September 1846 to April 1847 From April 1, 1847

April 2 Christopher Campbell Clps"

2 Owen Finnegan Corlea (old lad)

3 Mary Murray Cornakill!

3 Tomas (sic) Campain Drumflesk

3 Elizabeth Reilly Conins (?)

4 Mrs. Colman Kingscourt!

4 Matthew Farrelly Closenbraden

5 Philip Cooney Kingscourt

5 Bernard Allen Rathfarnum

6 Mary Conway Drumskerry

7 Mary Lis(?) Cortobar Meath#

6 Thos. Donnelly of the Mountains

6 Michael McCormack Colops

14 Luke McGurke Rollohan

14 Jane Downey Rollohan

15 Mary Farrelly Drumbar

16 Bridget McIntee Drumbar

14 Pat Crosbie Enniskeen

18 Loughlin Martin Kingscourt

17 Hugh Fay Mullabay

18 Hugh Grannam Corl(?)

18 William Grimes Plantations

20 Thomas Biggy Poles

21 Mrs. Gone Kullmatagh

23 Catherine Grimes Plantation

24 Terrance McGos Tahart

25 Catherine Carrolan Rolahan

April 25 Mary Fay Milltown

28 Phill. Gargan Drumsbar

27 Michael McIntee Lisagoen

28 Bridget Lamb Cornema

29 Mary Smith Newcastle

Mary Nelson Cara

Phil Gargan Conarea

Peter Hughes Churchill

Widow Kelly Plantations

Widow Degnam Kingscourt

Thos. Burns Lisagoen

Mary Lynch Cara

Philip Ward Lisgoen

Catherine Tirm(?) --------

Biddy Carrolan Rullanhan

Margaret Carolan Lisagoen#

Richard Connelly (?) Plantations

29 Widow Farrelly Rullohan

Emigration from Cavan

Deaths in RC Parish of Enniskeen, Co. Cavan from 1846 to 1850

From September 1846 to April 1847

1. Peggy Lennon Lower Colps

2. Widow ? Tahart

3. Wm. McKeon Corlea

4. Mary McGrane Corlea

5. ------- Lynch ?

6. Widow McCarroll Gorteen

7. Patt McGee Kingscourt

8. Thos. Duff Muff

9. Jack Gagerty Kingscourt

10. Wm. Gagerty Kingscourt

11. James Giner Leither(?)

12. Widow McIntee Muff

13. Widow McCann Corg(?)

14. Mary Hand Drumillar

15. Widow Ward Leither

16. Lawrence Farling Rolar

17. Henry Smith C.Klick

18. Patt Darley Rolar

19. Mary Brown Enniskeen

20. John Finnegan Corlea!

21. Catherine Shepherd Raloh(?)

22. Ann Reilly Cornary

23. Bridget Konghy Bracklin

24. Patt Smith Farthego

25. ----------- Folahan

26. Peter Finegan Corlea

27. Betty Crawford Bracklin

28. Nancy Farmer Drumbar

29. Bridget Carrolan Baragh

30. Hugh McCabe Coppena

31. Nancy Regan Cornema

32. Thos. Carrolan Lisagoen

33 Patt Finegan Bracklin

34. John McGuire Kingscourt

35. Rody McEntee Rara

36. (?) Jennelly Drumsalla!

37. Judith Carrolan Carrickleck#

38. ---------Carrolan Carrickleck

39. (?) Cooney Cornama

40. Father McNaulty Cornama

41. (?) Clarke Carrickleck

42. (?) Reilly Drumillar

43. (?) Reilly Drumillar

44. (?) Farrally (girl) Tahart

45. (?) Whately Gorteen

46. Mary (?) Murtha Clonnabar

47. (?) Morrow (?) Cornema

48. Bridget Morrow(?) Cornema

49. Rose Fitzpatrick Cornema

50. John Farrell Kingscourt

51. Rose Caffery Ballyoghly(

52. Ann Donohue, Beggar Old Road, Muff

53. Psatt Carrolan Lisagoen

54. Frank Reilly Drumbar#

55. Edw. Flemming Mullvilorops(?)!

56. Patt Reilly Muff, Old Road

57. Patt Fitzpatrick Copperna

58. Beggar Woman Plantations

59. Patt McMahon Crocktarrell-

60. Mary Martin Kingscourt, Turner's Hill !

61. Mary Mullin or Briens Corlea

62. Jas. Hughes Cornamar

63. Patt Martin Cornamar$

64. Nelly Marrow Cornamar, beggar$

65. Mary Donagh Farthago, Langham

66. Thos. Jackson Lisrea*

67. B (?) McMillan (?) Beggar, Tory Bush$

68. James Brennan - father) Cornema$

69. Thos. Brennan - son ) Cornema&

70. Widow Brennan, mother ) Cornema

71. Widow Kelly Dungan

72. Michael McDermott Lisagoen

73. Ellen McCabe

74. Cahrles Carrolan Lara

75. Thos. McNulty Enniskeen#

76. Mary McNulty - wife Enniskeen

77. Patt McMahon Mullintin

78. Terry Farling Cornema

79. Owen Boylan Rora

80. Widow Callaghan Cort(?)

81. Michael Finegan (?)

Cavan

Charles Coote in his statistical survey of County Cavan in 1802 refers to the crop rotation cycle in the Barony of Loughtee …

that ‘flax always followed potatoes and is succeeded by oat’.

Agriculture continued to be the backbone of the economy, still with great reliance resting on the potato crop. It was a prolific crop, capable of feeding a family for up to ten months in the year. In 1823 and again in 1826 there was a partial failure of this crop, the latter due to drought like conditions. So the people were constantly on the edge of starvation. Because of sub-division the average holding was only nine to ten acres and often less. Families tended to be large and people married young. As a result, the population of Co Cavan in 1821 was 195,000. By 1841 it had increased to 243,000. The economy had become reasonably good despite the decline in demand for flax and for home-produced linen cloth. The emerging economy based on factory production had reduced the need for these products and the women who at the time could have earned up to 5d a day for spinning and working the loom were not now as busy as before. According to Margaret Crawford in her essay “Poverty and Famine in Co Cavan” (in “Cavan, Essays in the History of an Irish County” ed by Raymond Gillespie p. 139) the population of our county had reduced by over 69,000 people in the 1851 census. This serious decline was caused by the Great Famine 1845-‘48. In the late summer of 1845 a disease called “the blight” destroyed part of the potato crop.

Co. Cavan was hard hit by the Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century. In the fall of 1848, the local landlord in Mountnugent parish evicted 700 people in one day. The famous ballad "By Lough Sheelin Side" is based on this event witnessed by the local Catholic priest.

Evictions and Disease (the Potato Famine)

In the autumn of 1847 the potato crop was a total failure. The government was no longer providing relief so responsibility for feeding the starving masses was left to the limited resources of Irish landowners. Many Cavan County landlords responded to the best of their ability and bankrupted themselves in doing so. Others tried a more pragmatic approach. Landlords were assessed a local poor law tax based on the number of tenants on their property. To relieve themselves of the burden of paying this tax, they payed their tenants to emigrate, or simply evicted them and hoped they would move out of the local area. [further research in estate papers for Hamilton's response to famine, include Poor law report information on Scrabby parish]

The following account of a brutal eviction in the fall of 1848 on an estate in Tonagh, County Cavan was given by a young priest:

In the very First year of our ministry, as a missionary priest in this diocese we were an eye-witness of a cruel and inhuman eviction, which even still makes our heart bleed as often as we allow ourselves to think of it. Seven hundred human beings were driven from their homes in one day and set adrift on the world, to gratify the caprice of one who, before God and man, notably deserved less consideration than the last and least of them. And we remember well that there was not a single shilling of rent due on the estate at the time, except by one man; and the character and acts of that man made it perfectly clear that the agent and himself quite understood each other.

The Crowbar Brigade, employed on the occasion to extinguish the hearths and demolish the homes of honest, industrious men, worked away with a will at their awful calling until evening. At length an incident occurred that varied the monotony of the grim, ghastly ruin which they were spreading all around. They stopped suddenly, and recoiled panic-stricken with terror from two dwellings which they were directed to destroy with the rest. They had just learned that a frightful typhus fever held those houses in its grasp, and had already brought pestilence and death to their inmates. They therefore supplicated the agent to spare these houses a little longer; but the agent was inexorable and insisted that the houses should come down. The ingenuity with which he extricated himself from the difficulties of the situation was characteristic alike of the heartlessness of the man and of the cruel necessities of the work in which he was engaged. He ordered a large winnowing-sheet to be secured over the beds in which the fever victims lay - fortunately they happened to be perfectly delirious at the time - and then directed the houses to be unroofed cautiously and slowly, because, he said, `he very much disliked the bother and discomfort of a coroner's inquest.' I administered the last Sacrament of the Church to four of these fever victims next day; and save the above-mentioned winnowing-sheet, there was not then a roof nearer to me than the canopy of heaven.

The horrid scenes I then witnessed I must remember all my lifelong. The wailing of women - the screams, the terror, the consternation of children - the speechless agony of honest, industrious men - wrung tears of grief from all who saw them. I saw the officers and men of a large policed force, who were obliged to attend on the occasion, cry like children at beholding the cruel sufferings of the very people whom they would be obliged to butcher had they offered the least resistance. The heavy rains that usually attend the autumnal equinoxes descended in cold, copious torrents throughout the night, and at once revealed to those houseless sufferers the awful realities of their condition. I visited them next morning, and rode from place to place administering to them all the comfort and consolation I could. The appearance of men, women, and children, as they emerged from the ruins of their former homes - saturated with rain, blackened and besmeared with soot, shivering in every member from cold and misery - presented positively the most appalling spectacle I have ever looked at.

"The Ejectment" from the London Illustrated Times Dec. 16, 1848

The landed proprietors in a circle all around - and for many miles in every direction - warned their tenantry, with threats of their direst vengeance, against the humanity of extending to any of them the hospitality of a single night's shelter. Many of those poor people were unable to emigrate with their families, while, at home, the hand of every man was thus raised against them. They were driven from the land on which Providence had placed them; and, in the state of society surrounding them, every other walk of life was rigidly closed against them. What was the result?. After battling in vain with privation and pestilence, they at last graduated from the workhouse to the tomb; and in little more than three years, nearly a fourth of them lay quietly in their graves."