Quakers (Society of Friends) began to arrive in Ireland in the mid-17th century as CROMWELLIAN settlers, and some authorities estimate that by 1690 their numbers were between 5,000 and 9,000. They are best remembered for their relief work during the Great Famine circa 1846. They collected large amounts of donations and used it to finance several carefully thought out schemes, some to bring immediate help to the starving, others with an eye to the longer term. It should be noted that all aid was dispensed without regard to the denomination of the recipients and that theirs was the first aid.. Unfortunately, the need was far greater than Quakers alone could provide, especially in the far west. There were also donations of aid from England and English Quakers, although foodstuffs in Ireland continued to be exported. Relief received from America and other countries resulted from the coverage by the press and heart-rending letters from Ireland were widely published in many U. S. newspapers, including one addressed to the ladies of America by the Irish authoress Maria EDGEWORTH. Once publicized there was a spontaneous reaction that resulted in widespread organized and privatized efforts toward famine relief. By 1847 the full horror of the famine became a reality to American readers, with increasingly graphic reports published in newspapers. Donations of money, food and clothing were forthcoming from individuals, churches, synagogues and other religious organizations, companies large and small, and fraternal and service clubs. The Shakers of New Lebanon sent stockings, socks, coats, vests, pants and children's clothing. Workmen at the Chickering Pianoforte Co. in Boston and the dry dock in Brooklyn, NY and the police of Worcester and Boston contributed a day's wages or more. Cash contributions were donated by mercantile firms in NYC and employers and employees of many other companies throughout the U. S. Officers and soldiers of the U. S. Army stationed in Tampico, Mexico and officers and cadets at the Military Academy in West Point contributed. The impoverished Choctaw Indian tribe sent corn and a donation. A ten-dollar contribution, which was to be used for a school party, was sent by the students of Lovingston Academy in Nelson Co., VA. Fund-raising activities were held such as grand balls, lectures, entertainment events staged by actors and actresses, and concerts like the one presented jointly by the choir of the Cathedral of Holy Cross and pupils at the Institution for the Blind in Boston. Food donations that were shipped to Ireland from the U. S. included corn, flour, peas, oatmeal, potatoes, dried applies, fish, beans, bread, barley, beef, pork, rye and rice. Farmers from Muskingum and Jefferson Counties in Ohio sent part of their harvest, and a delegation of farmers from Indiana traveled to Cincinnati, OH, to arrange sending food from their state as part of the relief effort The "Boston Courier and Enquirer" noted that more than $80,000 had been remitted from Irish laborers, servants and "others toiling for their daily bread" to their suffering relatives in Ireland. A particularly sad account of such a donation was published in the March 4, 1847 "Transcript." An unnamed servant girl in the family of General H. B. DURYEA sent all of her earnings ($30) to her friends in Ireland, only to learn a few days later that her father, mother and six brothers and sisters had died of starvation. One especially noteworthy contribution was made by the citizens of Nantucket, MA, who had suffered a devastating fire resulting in $600,00 in property loss. Despite their loss, they collected $2,000 which was forwarded to the Boston committee. Russia provided a shipment of rye to Ireland once the waterway had been cleaned of ice. Earlier, in 1846, little relief had been forthcoming, and on October 30, 1846, a letter had been written by a resident of County Roscommon, sent to a fellow Roscommon-born citizen in Washington DC, published in the November 11, 1846 "Intelligencer." He wrote, "For the last month there was no importation of Indian meal and the people congregate in hundreds and thousands, break into mills and bakers' shops, and force away all the meal and bread they can lay hold of; the military and police are called out to protect the property of those persons, and in many places lives were lost." He also took America to task, "I am astonished that the Americans, mixed with Irish as they are, never manifested the least sympathy for us in our present deplorable condition, more especially as in India the Irish there entered into the matter very cordially, and made up a considerable sum in Calcutta, say 11,000 pounds towards the relief of the poor Irish and they are still adding to it their c! ontributions monthly." By 1847, however, American relief was on its way to Ireland. To this day the people of Ireland have not forgotten that "the Quakers fed us in the Famine," although it was more of a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous and widespread need. The cover of "Irish Roots" magazine published in Cork (1998 #2) depicts "The Great Hunger" panel of a large Quaker Tapestry. This is an embroidered work of some 77 panels conveying insights and experiences of the Quaker during three and a half centuries. The tapestry was begun in 1981. Over 4,000 Quakers in ten countries had worked on it by 1998 and the beautiful tapestry had been displayed in Ireland, Britain and the United States. This particular panel shows a families walking towards a ship at the quay to immigrate, Quakers workers in a soup kitchen dispensing food, recording food contributions, a vacant-looking potato field and a stooped old man pulling a cart with a sheet-wrapped dead body, the rest of the family trailing behind. The embroidered panel also states that "1,500,000 d! ied of starvation and 1,000,000 emigrated. Irish "Friends" (i.e. Quakers) were entrusted with international relief funds to feed the starving, replenish seed and to redeem fishing nets and tools which had been pawned for food."