We have installed a new program (phpGEDView) that will allow you to edit, view and create reports for your family tree. It will also let you share and edit family tree infromation provided by other users. You will be able to view the files without logging in, but in order to create, edit and share the files you will have to register on this portion of the site again. Maybe, eventually, it will be tied into the main site and you will have the same log-in, but not yet.

The Potato Famine
Growing potatoes in Ireland became very popular because potatoes were handy to have around, especially during times of war. The edible underground tubers were likely to escape the notice of invading troops. The growing green tops could not be set afire as could fields of wheat or barley. Even if a potato field was trampled by soldiers, the tubers would be undamaged. Armies and outlaws were not likely to take the time to dig them up. After being dug up, the potatoes could be taken directly to the kitchen to be cooked and eaten without having to be ground at a mill first. They could be stored in a root cellar for months, to be eaten in leaner times. People with very little land could still grow lots of potatoes, which was not the case with grains. Potatoes thrived in Ireland’s very poor soil, and all that was needed to plant them was a spade. The potato blight has been around as long as there have been potatoes, and there is still no cure for it. Beginning in the year 1845, Ireland’s entire potato crop failed three years in a row, causing devastating starvation and social upheaval. The potato crop failed in America at the same time it failed in Ireland. In Ireland, however, the potato was the sole food crop on which the majority of the people depended upon for nourishment. In America, corn, oats, wheat, barley and other crops were grown in sufficient amounts so that Americans had other crops to feed them.