Off-topic, but...
Iceland lost approximately 1/4 of its population due to the
"mist famine" which followed the eruption. Losses were due
to crop failure and poisoning of livestock, both from the
sulpherous cloud that hung over Iceland.
To bring it back to genealogy, many parishes in Iceland
don't have records for that time frame, sometimes because
the priest died too. In others I've looked at, the list of
deaths in that time frame is just enormously more than the
normal number. Not sure if I have any ancestors who died in
the famine, but I definitely have some with unknown death
dates in that time frame.
Ruth Ann
Alastair Lack wrote:
There's just been published (21 May) an article in New Scientist about
a major volcanic eruption in Iceland on 8 June 1783 which caused 40%
more deaths in the British Isles than would normally be expected. It
was a 'Year of Awe' and the day of Judgement was thought to be at
hand.
Apparently there were dreadful sulphurous smells all around, etc. from
the erupted gases, and these stretched all over Europe and
Scandanavia.
It's an interesting episode to tie in to a family death in late 1783 -
early 1784
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