February 8, 1847: Following news reports of the arrival in Boston of ships full of starving Irish Immigrants, the Irish Relief Committee is formed in Rochester to coordinate aid contributions from the city and surrounding areas to those in Ireland suffering from the Potato Famine. The group represented a unified and broad mix of rich and poor citizens from a variety of ethnicities, religions, and political parties.
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Although the period is generally referred to as the Potato Famine, the Irish refer to as An Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger. A famine means that there is nothing to eat. Here there was food but meat and grain was shipped to Britain so as not to destabilized prices there.
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