The Great Hunger

CBC Radio 1 has recently broadcast a two-part series called 'The Great Hunger' on its weekday evening program, IDEAS.

The first part is about the Potato Famine in Ireland. It is interesting because it talks about what happened in Ireland after the famine, after millions of people had either died or emigrated, and how the descendants of the famine generation have been affected.

What interested me most in this broadcast was that there are no stories from the Famine. This seems very unusual for a culture rich in stories and storytellers, but this absence may explain why our ancestors didn't record a townland when asked where they were born, or why there is such a dearth of records for our ancestors in Ireland.

Click on the title above to listen to this fascinating radio broadcast.