1831–1848 Cholera, hunger, and a freedom that changed littleCholera, hlad a sloboda, ktorá zmenila málo

Cholera swept Orava in 1831 and killed 76 people in Zuberec, eight of them from a single family. Famine years followed from 1845 to 1847. In between came 1848 and the abolition of serfdom — which in Orava mattered less than the word suggests, because the fields here were small and high, and the forest, the one thing that could actually pay, stayed with the estate. Free villagers went on hiring themselves to the Orava Composessorate to cut its trees. The population kept rising on ground that could not feed it, and that pressure is what sends the next generation to the ships.V roku 1831 prešla Oravou cholera a v Zuberci si vyžiadala 76 životov, z toho osem v jednej rodine. Nasledovali hladové roky 1845 až 1847. Medzitým prišiel rok 1848 a zrušenie poddanstva — na Orave to však znamenalo menej, než to slovo sľubuje, lebo polia tu boli malé a vysoko a les, ktorý jediný niečo vynášal, zostal panstvu. Slobodní dedinčania sa aj naďalej najímali k Oravskému komposesorátu rúbať jeho stromy. Obyvateľov pribúdalo na pôde, ktorá ich nedokázala uživiť, a práve tento tlak poslal ďalšiu generáciu na lode.