In the decade prior to the Famine, Strokestown Park has accrued debts of 14,000. In a display cabinet at the museum, a photograph of John Ross Mahon is displayed. He was employed by Major Denis Mahon to run the estate on his behalf. In his recommendations to the landlord, John Ross proposed lenient terms for those tenants who attempted to pay their rent arrears, and immediate eviction for those who did not. A model at the museum which represents the townland of Gortoose, shows a population of 238 in 1845.
Today there are only three inhabitants.
The landowners were financially responsible for providing for the destitute in their area and it was cheaper to send a tenant on assisted emigration passage than to pay for their upkeep in the workhouse. Major Mahon chartered three ships on which he paid assisted passage for 1,000 of his tenants to Canada. Almost half of these people died of disease during the voyage due to a combination of their already poor physical conditions and the unsanitary environment on board the ships.