# Summer of 1816 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939 "2000-04-04T22:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/1 "2000-04-04T22:52:00Z")
I received this e-mail on a genealogy list and found it interesting. Before I share this with fellow genealogists and risk spreading misinformation, are there any historians in the house who can tell me whether these events actaully happened the way this message describes? Thanks 🙂 \*\*\*\*\* THE SUMMER OF 1816 \*\*\*\*\* The summer of 1816 was a most unusual one and should be kept in mind when researching your ancestors in this time period. Mt. Tambour Volcano in Java erupted in 1815. 12,000 islanders lost their lives in this eruption. This event caused a most unusual weather pattern the following year in North America. This resulted in mass migrations of people trying to get away from the drastic climatic changes. The summer of 1816 was very cold. Killing frosts and snowfall destroyed crops throughout the United States. June and July were the coldest months. 19 states had SNOWFALL IN JUNE! there were no fall harvests. Animals and people starved. Wild animals ravaged the frontier. The people, not knowledgeable of meteorological causes, blamed the wrath of God for these hardships. Some who were destitute and despondent, committed suicide. By 1817, the climate returned to normal, however many had already moved to warmer parts of the country and some farmers gave up farming for industrial work in the cities. If you have ancestors who disappeared from sight ca 1815-1820, keep these events in mind. They may have migrated looking for a warmer and more hospitable place to live. * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy [The Kat House](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/home.htm) [Join the FSH Muscular Dystrophy Webring](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/fshwebring.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/2 "2000-04-04T23:30:00Z")
1816 was a landmark year for both climatic and historical reasons. The year before had seen the demobilization of troops following what amounted to a 20 year world war. Add to this one of the most freakish years for weather on record and you end up with social disruption on the scale of other landmark years like 1848, 1919, 1945, or 1968. The weather in 1816 was indeed bizarre. Here’s some entrys from a New Englander’s journal for that summer: > [@](#): > > Frosts are extremely rare here in either of the summer months; but this year there was frost in each of them. June 6th the temperature about 44 Degs through the day - Snowed several times. > June 7th no frost, but the ground frozen in many places… Moist earth was frozen half an inch thick. > June 8th, some ice was seen in the morning - earth very little frozen - no frost - wind still strong and piercing from the NW. Cucumbers and other vegetables nearly destroyed. > June 9th less wind and some warmer. > June 10th, severe frost in the morning… The trees on the sides of the hills presented for miles the appearance of having been scorched. > June 29th and 30th some frost. > July 9th frost, which killed parts of cucumbers. > August 22nd cucumbers killed by frost. > August 29th severe frost. Some fields of Indian corn were killed on the low grounds, while that on the higher was unhurt. Very little Indian corn became ripe in the region." Whether or not Mt. Tambour was responsible is open to debate. Regardless the weather and events of that year must have led to a lot of social disruption. Here’s a detailed discussion on the subject: [http://www.aber.ac.uk/~jpg/volcano/lecture5.html](http://www.aber.ac.uk/~jpg/volcano/lecture5.html) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/3 "2000-04-04T23:37:00Z")
Tambora was the largest explosive volcanic eruption in (relatively) modern times and 1816 has, indeed, been called the “year without summer.” This site has a snippet from a diary describing the severe weather of June in Vermont: [http://www.vtonly.com/hstyjul7.htm](http://www.vtonly.com/hstyjul7.htm) The purported social ramifications seem to be a bit overstated. That _some_ people moved to warmer climes (and even that _some_ people committed suicide) is plausible. On the other hand, that same period was near the beginning of the Industrial Revolution when many people were beginning to abandon farms for factory jobs, anyway. In addition, the numerous panics and bank runs that occurred throughout the nineteenth century forced many people off their farms and I would think that you would find many more people losing their farms under those conditions (although the many crop failures of 1816 certainly did nothing to make farmers secure on their land). In addition, there is no serious record of the relative populations of the North and the South reversing in size in the U.S. during that period. (If your **ancestors** _disappeared_ between 1815 and 1820, you are not here to worry about it.) There is truth in the story, but it is oversold. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/4 "2000-04-05T00:12:00Z")
This lends new meaning to an old song lyric… > [@](#): > > \*Deep in the valley of the shadowless death > > They pray for thunderclouds of rain > > Where the evil of a **snowflake in June** > > Could still be a source of relief\* –Genesis, “Mad Man Moon” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/5 "2000-04-05T00:58:00Z")
Book titles on this subject, anybody? E-mail me, please. 🙂 * * * You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment."-Bill Hicks “You should tell the lies, live the truth and expose yourself.” - Bill Clinton ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/6 "2000-04-05T01:09:00Z")
Here’s one, Bosda: Volcano Weather : The Story of 1816, the Year Without a Summer by Henry M. Stommel, Elizabeth Stommel ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/7 "2000-04-07T16:56:00Z")
> [@](#): > > June and July were the coldest months. 19 states had SNOWFALL IN JUNE > > \*\* The year is called “Eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death” in New England. Surely it is untrue that June and July were the coldest months (except in the Southern Hemisphere, of course). They may have been the months with temperatures most below normal. Snowfall in June and July is not as rare as you might expect. Rochester, N.Y., had snow in July one year in the 1980s, and snow in August one year in the 1960s. Temperatures on the gound need not be below freezing for snow to fall. What is unusual is to have a hard frost every month of the year, which limits the frost-free period to a maximum of about 60 days (say, July 2-Aug 30). Some crops, like potatoes and turnips, will not be killed except by a very hard frost. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/8 "2000-04-08T01:15:00Z")
That was the year that Byron, Mr & Mrs Shelley and Dr Polidori were on a summer holiday that was so cold and dismal that they spent most of their time indoors. Growing bored, they decided to each write a scary story. Only one of the stories was any good. Thus, we have _Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus_. Your brain-in-a-jar, Myron * * * Imbibo, ergo sum. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/9 "2000-04-08T02:03:00Z")
Thank you, Ursa. 🙂 * * * You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment."-Bill Hicks “You should tell the lies, live the truth and expose yourself.” - Bill Clinton ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/10 "2000-04-08T04:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Only one of the stories was any good. Myron, besides hijacking this thread so severely I’m amazed the wings didn’t sheer off, you are also sadly lacking in literary taste. John Polidori’s story _The Vampyre_ is rightly considered a classic of the genre. It was overwhelmingly popular at the time it was written, has been in print ever since, and inspired not only a number of sequels but an entire new genre of horror literature. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/11 "2000-04-08T15:10:00Z")
Okay, Nemo, I admit I was a bit hasty. Perhaps I should have said “Only one went on to become an English literary classic.” Lord Ruthven’s tale is quite a groundbreaker of its own, though, yes. I also must point out that, merits of the story notwithstanding, one of the reasons “The Vampyre” was so popular is that when first published in 1819, its authorship was attributed to Byron. Byron’s actual contribution, “Fragment of a Story” can also be found still in print. [/hijack] Your brain-in-a-jar, Myron * * * Imbibo, ergo sum. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/12 "2000-04-08T18:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by tomndebb: > (If your **ancestors** _disappeared_ between 1815 and 1820, you are not here to worry about it.) > \*\* So anyone whose ancestors are dead doesn’t exist? What are you saying here? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/13 "2000-04-08T18:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by The Ryan: > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally posted by tomndebb: > > (If your **ancestors** _disappeared_ between 1815 and 1820, you are not here to worry about it.) > > \*\* > > So anyone whose ancestors are dead doesn’t exist? What are you saying here?\*\* ## I **all** of them did, yes, unless you’re over 180 years old. I think that’s what t&d meant. This is getting hard. Somebody relieve me. (A Wallian exclamation) ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-of-1816/9939/14 "2000-04-08T18:28:00Z")
**If** , dammit. IF all of them…