Mother of all famines for abandoned Irish women
IT WAS a cry for help which was ultimately to fall on deaf ears. Having buried her husband and two young children, and now facing eviction from her home because her father-in-law no longer cared for the childless widow, a Mrs. Killmartin of Strokestown, Co Roscommon, made a heart-breaking entreaty to her landlord.
Dated July 14, 1848, she wrote: ‘I most humbly request you won’t be displeased with me for this addressing you hoping the extinction of your mercy shall be fully shown forth to me in this my pitiful case by giving me time for this rent until harvest.’
