SNIPPET: A devastating outbreak of potato blight began in Europe in 1845. Relief efforts from America were small in 1846, and it was not until 1847, when the full horror of the famine became a reality, that efforts began in earnest. (See below). Elihu BURRITT gave this first-hand report on 22 Feb 1847 from Castlehaven, Cork. "We entered a stinted den by an aperture about three feet high, and found one or two children lying asleep with their eyes open in the straw. Such, at least, was their appearance, for they scarcely winked while we were before them. The father came in and told his pitiful story of want, saying that not a morsel of food had they tasted for 24 hours. He lighted a wisp of straw and showed us one or two more children lying in another nook of the cave. Their mother had died, and he was obliged to leave them alone during most of the day, in order to glean something for their subsistence. We were soon among the most wretched habitations that I had yet seen, far worse than Skibbereen. Many of them were flat-roofed hovels, half buried in the earth, or built up against the rocks, and covered with rotten straw, seaweed or turf. In one which was scarcely seven feet square, we found five persons prost! ate with the fever, and apparently near their end. A girl about sixteen, the very picture of despair, was the only one left who could administer any relief; and all she could do was to bring water in a broken pitcher to slake their parched lips. As we proceeded up a rocky hill overlooking the sea, we encountered new sights of wretchedness. Seeing a cabin standing somewhat by itself in a hollow, and surrounded by a moat of green filth, we entered it with some difficulty, and found a single child about three years old lying on some kind of shelf, with its little face resting upon the edge of the board and looking steadfastly out at the door as if for its mother. It never moved its eyes as we entered, but kept them fixed toward the entrance. It is doubtful whether the poor thing had a mother or father left to her; but it is more doubtful still whether those eyes would have relaxed their vacant gaze if both of them had entered at once with anything that could tempt the pala! te in their hands. No words can describe this peculiar appearance of the famished children. Never have I seen such bright, blue, clear eyes looking so steadfastly at nothing." --"Eyewitness to History," John CAREY (Avon Books/NY 1997), orig. pub.in Great Britain as "The Faber Book or Reportage." Per Judith Eccles WIGHT, A. G., in the 1998 #2 issue of "Irish Roots" magazine, pub. Cork: "A national public meeting in the USA in February, 1847, resulted in a national organisation with the VP of the U. S. , George M. DALLAS, serving as president and many senators and representatives serving as officers and committee members: Resolutions included the following: A general contribution of money or provisions to be forwarded to Ireland with all practicable dispatch; The Mayors and Collectors of Customs in New York City and New Orleans to receive the contributions and forward them to Ireland for distribution; Cities, towns and villages in the U.S. encouraged to appoint committees to receive contributions and forward them to the General Committee established in New York City and New Orleans. Per the authoress, many states established their own General Relief Committees. It was resolved by the MA committee through the "promptings of a common humanity and dictates of Christ! ian duty"' that individuals of that state donate a portion of their substance to alleviate the sufferings of the poor in both Ireland and Scotland. State organisations were aided by local community groups that actively collected funds and other provisions. One noteworthy contribution was made by the citizens of Nantucket, who had sufferd a devastating fire resulting in $600,000 in property loss. Despite the loss, they collected $2,000 which was forwarded to the Boston committee. Donations of money, food and clothing were forthcoming from individuals, churches, synagogues and other religious organisations, companies large and small, and fraternal and service clubs. Of particular note are the humanitarian efforts of the Society of Friends. 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 police of Worcester and Boston, MA, contributed a! day's wage or more. Cash contributions were noted 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 Choctaw Indian tribe sent corn. And even children donated their small share. A ten-dollar contribution, which was to 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, entertaiment 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 included corn, flour, oats, peas, oatmeal, potatoes, dried apples, fish, beans, bread, barley, beef, pork, rye, and rice. Farmers of Muskingum and Jefferson Cos. in OH sent part of their harvest, and a delegation of farmers from IN travelled to Cincinnati, OH, to arrange sending food from their state as part of the relief effort. Friends and family of famine victims sent their own private cash contributions. The "Boston Courier and Enquirer" noted that more than $80,000 had been remitted in amounts ranging from $5 to $25 from Irish labourers, servants and "others toiling for their daily bread" to their suffering relatives in Ireland. One sad account of 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. She learned a few days later that her father, mother, and six brothers and sisters had died of starvation.