Thanks Karen.
I have a special interest because our house turned 200 years old this year and the builder-owner was a prominent grocer named Capt. Charles Wills. One of his stores still stands (built 1815) but remains in limbo about its demise and has since 2004. Wills died in 1820 in his early 40s and wondered if stress over his business linked to the weather/crop issues may have cause his early death? I have never found an obituary or death notice yet for him, only a probate inventory due to no will either. I read one place colder climates ranged 1812-1819 due to a couple of reasons but peaked in 1816 due to the volcanic winter. The house was built 1812 and he died 1820 - the year after the date range.
I was hoping that on the VA-HIST list there may be some who have already approached this and knows of the problems. I did run across some Thomas Jefferson records as well as some newspaper mentions that stated that there was frost every month in 1816 with the summer feeling like a mild winter. One newspaper mention did state about frost in Richmond on August 29th and severe thunderstorm in September from an offshore hurricane that smelled like sulfur (it was the sulfur in the atmosphere that cause the sun's rays to bounce away from the earth). Crops failed due to the frosts and prices skyrocketed. Farmers were forced to sell livestock to live but because everyone else was doing the same couldn't get much for them. The death toll doubled that year due to starvation.
Thanks
Eric
________________________________
From: Karen Xxxxx [mailto:karenxxxxxxx.net]
Sent: Sun 2/12/2012 9:36 AM
To: Huffstutler, Eric S.
Subject: Fwd: VA-HIST Mt Tambora and Weather and Crops in Richmond Area 1816 ?
Eric
Try posting it to the environmental history list:
H-NET List for Environmental History <[log in to unmask]>
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(They'll want to know what prompted the question.)
Karen
2/12/2012
>Reply-to: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
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>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:29:33 -0500
>From: "Huffstutler, Eric S." <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Weather and Crops in Richmond Area 1816 ?
>
>I may have kind of a strange question for our Virginia historians.
>=20
>I knew of this and wonder how it affected the food merchants as well as =
>population in the Richmond area?
>=20
>The 1815 volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia that caused the =
>"Year Without A Winter" of 1816. Snow fell in June in some states. =
>Crops failed worldwide. There was mass starvation and an epidemic of =
>cholera. A bushel of wheat skyrocketed to $2.50 and that price not seen =
>again until 1972.
>=20
>Any input would be great. Thanks!
>=20
>Eric=20
--
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Visiting Scholar, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
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