Molly Brown Birthplace & Museum Address:Mark Twain Avenue &
Denkler Avenue, Hannibal, MO 63401 OPEN: 10 - 4 Memorial Day
Weekend - Labor Day, then weekends only until end of October
Growing up Molly Brown John Tobin, Molly's father, was born in
1823 in Ireland. At this time most native Irish lived as tenants
of British landowners. The Irish were dependent upon a single
species of potato, which they grew in small plots as the main
staple of their diet. In the 1840's the potato crops repeatedly
failed due to a blight or disease. The British government did
not respond to the resulting famine. Hundreds of thousands of
people starved to death. Even more were evicted from their homes
because the landlords did not want to pay for food relief for
their tenants. Young men and women left Ireland in droves,
crossing to America in the cheapest fashion possible, often
booking passage on so-called coffin ships. These ships earned
their names because of the unsanitary conditions on board. Many
thousands died en route and we