The Great Frost, a severe cold weather event across Europe 1740-41, had significant impacts on Ireland. As the winter stretched into spring of 1741, it brought widespread destruction and hardship to the entire island. The Irish Famine, as it is also known, is estimated to have killed between 13% and 20% of the population of 2.4 million people.
While this topic may seem scholarly at first glance, viewing it through the lens of genealogy and family history lets us connect more deeply with our ancestors’ lives. The land they inhabited and world around them offer important clues about their daily experiences.
Every now and then, one stumbles on an extra detail that brings an ancestral family story into clearer focus and sheds light on a life so far removed from our own. We glimpse what they endured, and that can draw us closer to them and their lived experience.
Demographic variation across the region created an intricate web of interconnected communities. In smaller settlements residents often recognized surnames as markers, fostering strong regional identity. This closeness, within small populations, meant many knew one another by reputation or family ties.
In the late 1850s, the town of Parma, New York—a rural community in Monroe County northwest of Rochester—stood on the cusp of change. Within a 30-mile radius lay bustling Rochester, canal villages like Brockport, and farming towns like Parma itself. By 1860, Parma’s population was about 2,900.
Our genetic makeup and cultural inheritance work together to shape our preferences, behaviors, and identities. Genes may predispose us to certain tastes, interests, while our cultural inheritance, beliefs, customs, and practices passed down through generations, can mold our inclinations.
The Kester/Kister family lived in the Fulda region of what is now Hessen, Germany, for generations, from the mid-1600s until immigrating to the United States in the 1840s. Their story begins with Joannes Kister (6GG), born in Burghaun, Fulda, in 1665.
As we reflect on this period, we find numerous parallels to our own time. The political instability, economic uncertainties, and social upheavals that characterized 19th century Hesse echo in our modern world.
In 1604, at the age of 44, Marinus saw an opportunity for his family and made a decision that would define his legacy. He uprooted his young family and joined the first group of settlers in Nieuwvliet, a nascent community rising from recently reclaimed land in Zeelandic Flanders. This move coincided with Prince Maurits recapture of the Land of Cadzand from Spanish control, opening up new opportunities for those bold enough to seize them.
Despite these societal convulsions, daily peasant life outwardly transformed relatively slowly. Farming practices and crop rotations changed little over generations. The liturgical calendar continued regulating secular and religious rituals like planting, harvesting, holy days, and festivals.
From obscure beginnings in the Early Middle Ages to the massive changes wrought by revolution, war, and industrialization, the story of this humble village provides a fascinating window into the wider currents of European history.
A croft is a small agricultural unit, and the person who lives on this land is called a crofter. Crofts are usually rented, akin to sharecropping, and are located in one of the crofting areas designated by the government in Scotland. Crofters live on and work the land. They are tenants of the person who owns the land (the croft), but some of the tenants have now bought their crofts and become owner-occupiers. Traditionally, croft land is used to raise animals and grow vegetables.