PEKIN - The history of the Irish peoples and the affect of the potato famine will be explained by Karen Fyke at the meeting of the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society (TCGHS) on March 12. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Society’s building, 719 N. Eleventh Street. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Mrs. Fyke, whose husband’s grandmother was a Donoho, was researching the Irish Potato Famine of 1851 for a talk at a Donoho Reunion held each June in Salem, IL. That project evolved into a study of the history of Ireland and the Irish, as well as the cause and effect of the Great Hunger, the Irish name for the 1850-1854 Potato Famine.

For more information, call 309-477-3044 or visit www.tcghs.org.