Margaret Haughery was a philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

 known as "the mother of the orphans".

She opened up four orphanages in the New Orleans area in the 19th century. Many years later in the 20th and 21st centuries several of the asylums Margaret originally founded as places of shelter for orphans and widows evolved into homes for the elderly.

Margaret Gaffney Haughery was a beloved historical figure in New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 the 1880s. Widely known as “Our Margaret,” “The Bread Woman of New Orleans" and “Mother of Orphans,” Margaret devoted her life’s work to the care and feeding of the poor and hungry, and to fund and build orphanages throughout the city. The poor called her "Saint Margaret."

An Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 immigrant widow woman of many titles, Margaret was also commonly referred to as the “Angel of the Delta,” “Mother Margaret,” “Margaret of New Orleans,” the “Celebrated Margaret” and “Margaret of Tully.” A Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

, she worked closely with New Orleans Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity

Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity as part of their name. The rule of Saint Vincent for the Daughters of Charity has been adopted and adapted by at least sixty founders of religious orders around the world in the subsequent centuries....

, associated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, officially in Latin Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church administered from New Orleans, Louisiana...

 (the second-oldest diocese in the present-day United States).

A woman of unsurpassed charity, Margaret became famed for her lifelong championing of the destitute. Countless thousands of all creeds considered her a living saint worthy of canonization. Born into poverty and orphaned at a young age, she began her adult life as a washwoman and a peddler — yet she died an epic businesswoman and philanthropist who received a state funeral

State funeral

A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...

.

Illness and death

At the age of 69 Margaret contracted an incurable disease, the exact nature of which is not recorded. She lingered many months under the care of her friends, the Sisters of Charity. People of all classes and denominations visited her in this her last illness. The aristocratic of New Orleans knelt at her side. Blessed Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, a period of nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal...

 sent his blessing and a crucifix, which was presented to her by Father Hubert Thirion, Louisiana, a young French priest.

Margaret died on February 9, 1882. Her body was taken to St. Vincent Infant Asylum, where it was embalmed and laid in state. The funeral took place on the following Saturday morning. Her was death announced in the newspapers with blocked columns as a public calamity, and the city newspapers were edged in black to mark her passing. Her obituary was printed on the front page of The Times-Picayune newspaper, the main paper in the city.

State funeral

The funeral cortege assembled at the asylum included 13 priests, headed by Archbishop Napoléon-Joseph Perché

Napoléon-Joseph Perché

Archbishop Napoléon-Joseph Perché was the third Archbishop of New Orleans . The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans is the second-oldest diocese in the present-day United States....

 (Third Archbishop of New Orleans). The New Orleans Mayor Benjamin Flanders

Benjamin Flanders

Benjamin Franklin Flanders was appointed the 21st Governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction and was Mayor of New Orleans.-Early life:...

 led the funeral procession and two Lieutenant Governors of Louisiana were pallbearers, George L. Walton

George L. Walton

George L. Walton was President of the Louisiana State Senate and Acting Lieutenant Governor from 1881 - 1884.-Early life and Civil War:Walton married Amanda Miller in 1855....

 and W.A. Robertson

W.A. Robertson

Dr. William A. Robertson was President of the Louisiana State Senate and Acting Lieutenant Governor for two and a half months in 1881.-Political career:...

. Thousands, including prominent politicians, businessmen, and other members of the clergy, attended her funeral.

Orphans from all the city's asylums were present, black and white, along with the historic Mississippi fire brigade (of which she was an honorary member) and nuns of numerous orders, as well as close friends and admirers. The streets, sidewalks, balconies and windows were thronged with mourners. These included three generals, clergymen of all denominations and city representatives. The cortege passed the New Orleans stock exchange at noon. Members suspended proceedings, left the room and came down to the sidewalk. St. Patrick's Church (New Orleans, Louisiana) was so thronged that the pallbearers had great difficulty getting the remains through the center aisle.

Requiem Mass was celebrated by Most Reverend Monsignor Allen with Archbishop Perché reading the prayers after Mass. Her friend Father Hubert gave the sermon. She was buried in the same Saint Louis Cemetery

Saint Louis Cemetery

Saint Louis Cemetery is the name of three Roman Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana. All of these graves are above ground vaults; most were constructed in the 18th century and 19th century....

 No. 2 tomb with her great friend Sister Francis Regis, the Sister of Charity who died in 1862 and with whom Margaret cooperated in all her early work for the poor.

Margaret's will was filed for probate on the following Monday. In her will she left everything to charities, without distinction of religion, for widows, orphans, and the elderly. She left all her wealth to charities with the exception of the bakery, which she bequeathed to her foster son, Bernard Klotz.

When Margaret died and her will was read, the people found that, with all her giving, she had still saved a great deal of money, and she left every cent of it to the different orphan asylums of the city; each one of them was given something. Whether the orphanages were for white children or black, for Jews, Catholics, or Protestants, made no difference; for Margaret always said, "They are all orphans alike." Margaret’s will was signed with a cross instead of a name as she never learned to read or write. Her signature was a poignant reminder of her humble beginnings, great business successes and mark on humanity, despite her inability to read or write.

Margaret Statue

The people of New Orleans said, "She was a mother to the motherless; she was a friend to those who had no friends; she had wisdom greater than schools can teach; we will not let her memory go from us." So the idea of erecting a public monument to Margaret in the city arose spontaneously.

Almost immediately a committee was appointed to oversee the erection of a statue in Margaret's honor. A site was purchased between Camp, Prytania and Clio streets. Alexander Doyle

Alexander Doyle

Alexander Doyle was an American sculptor.Doyle was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and spent his youth in Louisville, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri before going to Italy to study sculpture in Carrera, Rome, and Florence....

, a young sculptor, was commissioned. The statue was fashioned from old photographs, first molded in clay. This was sent to Italy where it was reproduced in Carrera marble. The statue was returned to New York from Italy after a time, but the commissioners of the monument declined to accept it, owing to imperfections in the marble. The sculptor at once procured another block and assured the commission that a perfect statue, according to model, would be shipped so as to reach New Orleans by May 1884.

Two years after her death the monument was unveiled on July 9 of 1884, by children from every orphanage in the city. Ex-Governor Francis T. Nicholls

Francis T. Nicholls

Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls was an American attorney, politician, judge, and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

 delivered a speech, and also present were the lady commissioners, the executive committee, New Orleans Mayor J. Valsin Guillotte

J. Valsin Guillotte

J. Valsin Guillotte was the 42nd mayor of New Orleans ....

, members of the city council and many others. The statue cost $6,000 which was donated in nickels and dimes — “No large sums would be accepted.” The statue bears one word only, her name, Margaret. The statue of her was sculpted to resemble how she looked, sitting in her own office door, or driving in her own little cart.

In addition to Margaret's statue, sculpture Doyle also did a trio of important depictions of Confederate Army generals around New Orleans, the figure of General Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee

Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....

 at Lee Circle (1884), the massive bronze equestrian of General P. G. T. Beauregard

P. G. T. Beauregard

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a Louisiana-born American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used...

 at the entrance to City Park (1915) and the bronze statue of General Albert Sydney Johnston atop the Army of the Tennessee cenotaph in Metairie Cemetery

Metairie Cemetery

Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road .-History:This site was previously a horse...

 (1887).

The little park in which Margaret's statue is erected is officially named Margaret Place. It has often been stated that this is the first public monument erected to a woman in the United States. It is the statue of a woman, sitting in a low chair or the era, with her arms around a child, who leans against her. Margaret wears thick shoes, a simple gingham dress, with her perennial shawl draped around her shoulders, and a bonnet; she is stout and short, and her face is a square-chinned Irish face; but her eyes look at you like your mother's.

The small park is located where Camp and Prytania Streets meet in New Orleans. The poignant and beloved statue of a middle-aged woman seated in a chair with a small child nearby bears a plaque of one word: "Margaret."

At the time, Margaret’s statue was thought to be the first monument to be erected in the United States in honor of a woman. As one leading New Orleans newspaper editorial put it, “She was the most deservedly eminent, the most justly famous, of all the women of New Orleans, of our generation or of any other, in the whole history of the city.”

Many still hail Margaret’s sculpture as the first American statue of a notable woman. Officially, it is the second U.S. monument to honor a woman, as the 1879 monument on Dustin Island in New Hampshire to Hannah Dustin (who in 1697 killed nine of her sleeping Indian captors and escaped) antedates Margaret’s monument by five years. However Margaret's monument is the first statue of American female philanthropist.

Early life

Margaret was born into poverty in Ireland in 1813, as the fifth child of William and Margaret O'Rourke Gaffney. Margaret was birthed in a stone cottage, as were her siblings. Margaret’s parents were from Tully South, in the parish of Carrigallen. Her father William was a small farmer and possibly a tailor, who owned a small shop.

Based on Irish parochial, baptismal and newspaper records,the Gaffney family lived in Tully, Carrigallen

Carrigallen

Carrigallen is a small village in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the R201 and R203 roads in the east of the county. The English translation of Carraig Álainn is "beautiful rock"....

 County Leitrim

County Leitrim

County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...

.

Emigration

When Margaret was five years old, her parents left Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 — a land plagued by destitution, political turmoil, and oppression under British rule — and set sail for America. The year 1818 was one of high emigration

Emigration

Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...

 due to a succession of wet summers followed by extreme winters; a time period Irish history calls “the year without a summer” and “the year of the malty flour.” William, his wife Margaret, and three of their six children — including Margaret (then five), older brother Kevin and baby sister Kathleen — emigrated Ireland for the United States. The three eldest children were to remain temporarily with their uncle Matthew O'Rourke in Ireland, until such time as they could be sent for. The final parting was so distressing that friends drew the children staying in Ireland aside, and before the divided family left Ireland they knelt to receive the curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

's blessing.

Passage to America

The high seas journey by steamer took six months to reach America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as severe storms affected the ship's progress. Ship records reflect that the passengers despaired of ever reaching dry land again. At-sea provisions became so scarce that one passenger recalled that each person was allowed just one cracker a day. Almost all luggage was destroyed including the Gaffney's trunk, whose lid Margaret’s father William then used to rock his three youngest children, the ones making the ocean crossing with their parents. Eventually the ship reached Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

, then finally Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

. During the long voyage, a Welsh woman with the surname Richards became acquainted with the Gaffney family.

Baltimore, Maryland

Shortly after the Gaffney family disembarked in Baltimore, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, baby Kathleen died. Like all small tenant farmers of his era, Margaret’s father William was ill equipped for city life. His job opportunities were limited. Nevertheless he secured employment as a carter at the Baltimore docks and was soon sent money to his brother-in-law O'Rourke for the upkeep of his three oldest children remaining in Ireland. In fact he had almost saved enough to send for them to come to America. Then disaster struck. In 1822 a yellow fever

Yellow fever

Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

 epidemic ravaged Baltimore, claiming among its victims Margaret’s parents, William and Margaret, who died within days of each other. They are buried in St. Patrick's cemetery in Baltimore. All household effects were burned, as was the custom, to prevent spread of the infection, with the exception of a prayer book, which was found twenty-seven years later and returned to the family.

Orphaned

In 1822 Margaret became an orphan when both parents died of disease. Margaret, now nine, was homeless and soon alone as her older brother Kevin disappeared and was never heard from again.

The same woman of Welsh extraction who made the overseas crossing with the Gaffney family heard of Margaret’s plight. The woman with the surname Richards, who lost her own husband to yellow fever, took Margaret in. She sheltered and cared for little orphan Margaret in her home.

There Margaret remained for some years, where she worked for her keep. In fact she may have been little more than a servant. Margaret received no formal education. Margaret never learned to read or write.

When old enough, Margaret went into domestic service, which was the norm for Irishwomen in Baltimore at that time. She worked as a hungstress.

Marriage and move to New Orleans, Louisiana

On October 10 of 1835, at age 21, Margaret married Irish-born Charles Haughery at a ceremony in Baltimore Cathedral. Haughery was not a well man. To escape the cold climate up north, Margaret persuaded him that a change in climate might be therapeutic for his bad health. They left Baltimore on the ship Hyperion and reached New Orleans on November 20 of 1835.

Like other New Orleanians of the time, the young family suffered from rampant epidemics of yellow fever and cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

. For a time Charles's health showed a slight improvement but it was short-lived and medical advice recommended a sea journey.

Charles decided to go to Ireland, his native land. This trip was delayed by several months pending the birth of the couple’s first child, a girl. They named her Frances. Eventually, Charles made the voyage but after some months Margaret received word that he died shortly after reaching his destination. This was a cruel blow but worse was to follow, for within a few months infant Frances became seriously ill and died. This was the second time that Margaret's family was wiped out, yet she was just 23 years of age. As she herself said, “My God! Thou hast broken every tie: Thou hast stripped me of all. Again I am all alone.”

Widowhood and life’s devotion

It was then she began her great career of charity. Margaret was all alone in the world, and poor, but she was strong, and knew how to work.
Despite her tragedies, or because of them, Margaret was determined to do something in her life to help the plight of widows and orphans — something she understood very well. However, she herself was destitute, uneducated and illiterate, a penniless immigrant woman on her own in New Orleans.

In the year of 1836 (history of New Orleans

History of New Orleans

The history of New Orleans, Louisiana traces the city's development from its founding by the French, through its period under Spanish control, then back to French rule before being sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase...

) New Orleans was the fourth largest city in the United States, the largest city away from the Atlantic seaboard

Atlantic Seaboard

The Atlantic seaboard watershed is a watershed of North America along both*the Atlantic Canada coast south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence Watershed &*the East Coast of the United States north of the watershed of the Okeechobee Waterway....

, as well as the largest in the South. The city had become the wealthiest and third-most populous city in the nation. It had the largest slave market. At the same time, it had the most prosperous community of free persons of color in the South. Travelers in this decade have left pictures of the animation of the river trade more congested in those days of river boats and steamers and ocean-sailing craft than today; of the institution of slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

, the quadroon

Quadroon

Quadroon, and the associated words octoroon and quintroon are terms that, historically, were applied to define the ancestry of people of mixed-race, generally of African and Caucasian ancestry, but also, within Australia, to those of Aboriginal and Caucasian ancestry...

 balls, the medley of Latin tongues, the disorder and carousals of the river-men and adventurers that filled the city. Altogether there was much of the wildness of a frontier town and a seemingly boundless promise of prosperity.

At that time, the city was divided into three municipalities: the first being the French Quarter

French Quarter

The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...

 and Faubourg Tremé, the second being Uptown (then meaning all settled areas upriver from Canal Street

Canal Street

Canal Street may refer to:* Canal Street , England, UK* Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA* Canal Street , New York City, New York, USA...

) and the third being Downtown (the rest of the city from Esplanade Avenue on down river).

Margaret's years in New Orleans intersected and paralleled that of vodou

Louisiana Voodoo

Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, describes a set of underground religious practices which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American...

 queen Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo renown in New Orleans. She was born free in New Orleans....

 (who died in 1881, preceding Margaret in death by one year); and the last five years of Margaret's life overlapped with the arrival to the city of Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...

, the writer who spread impressionistic tales of an exotic and mysterious New Orleans, and its environs, into an international sensation. He spoke of the city's political corruption, street crime, violence, intolerance and the failures of public health and hygiene officials, hauntings and strange events.

Laundress and orphan asylum work

As immigrant young widow woman in New Orleans, Margaret first found work in the laundry of the St. Charles Hotel.

From those humble beginnings she went on to establish herself as a remarkable businesswoman and "angel of mercy" who merged her hard work, business talents and philanthropic goals.

In the beginning, all day, from morning until evening, she ironed clothes in a laundry. Every day, as she worked by the window she saw motherless children from the orphan asylum nearby, working and playing about. After a while, great plagues of sickness fell upon the city, and so many mothers and fathers died that there were more orphans than the asylum could care for. Margaret stepped in.

While still working as a laundress, she went to Sisters of Charity who ran the asylum and told them she was giving them part of her wages, and she intended to work for them, besides. Early on she became acquainted with worked closely with a nun named Sister Regis.

At that time in New Orleans, the Sisters of Charity under the guidance of Sister Regis managed the Poydras Orphan Asylum (established by Julien de Lallande Poydras

Julien de Lallande Poydras

Julien de Lallande Poydras was a French-American politician who served as Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the United States House of Representatives....

). Margaret was deeply moved by the plight of the orphan children offered her assistance. Margaret eventually left her position at the hotel in order to help with the orphans. She became employed in the orphan asylum and when the orphans were without food she bought it for them from her earnings. Her first job was the collection of food from any available source.

Margaret an effective and resourceful money raiser in soliciting funds for the orphans. She was so successful that several other facilities were opened. She was rewarded for her efforts with a position in the administration of the orphanages.

Margaret and the nuns worked together for many years helping neglected orphans and widows in the city. Although a Catholic, Margaret made certain that all her charity work was opened to people of all religions and backgrounds.

Dairy and milk cart

Besides her administrative duties at the asylum, with money Margaret saved from her wages, to provide milk for the orphans she purchased two cows. With this, she bought a little delivery cart. Margaret first established a dairy and drove around the city delivering the milk herself. She also sold fresh milk in the Vieux Carré

Vieux Carre

Vieux Carré may refer to:*New Orleans's French Quarter* Vieux Carré, a play by Tennessee Williams...

 (French Quarter). She carried her milk to her customers in the little cart every morning, she drove her milk cart from door to door; and as she went, she begged the leftover food from the hotels and rich houses, and brought it back in the cart to the hungry children in the asylum. In the very hardest times that was often all the food the children had.

The surplus milk was sold and, finding this quite profitable, Margaret increased her stock and began selling cream and butter. Within two years Margaret had a dairy herd of forty cows and a profitable business. Margaret's popularity became widespread. She became known among all classes as a businesswoman who sold her produce through the community from her handcart.

The Female Orphan Asylum of the Sisters of Charity built in 1840 was financed from Margaret’s work, for she cleared it of debt.

During the yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans in the 1850s Margaret went about from house to house, without regard to race or creed, nursing the victims and consoling the dying mothers with the promise to look after their little ones. Eventually, She helped open the St. Teresa's Orphan Asylum on Camp Street. St. Teresa's Church was also practically built by Margaret, in conjunction with Sister Regis.

Bakery and bread cart

Although Margaret provided for the orphans, fed the poor, and gave generously to charity, her resources continued to grow. Over time, Margaret became the owner of many businesses. An industrious and resourceful woman determined to feed the orphans, at one point in time Margaret found employment at a bakery. Later on she loaned money to a baker but soon discovered that the business of Monsieur d' Aquin was on the verge of bankruptcy. She had become the main shareholder in the business. Margaret realized the only way she could recover her money was to take control of the bakery and operate it.

Known simply as Margaret's Bakery, her bakery business became an overnight success, and it is from this that she made the greater part of her fortune. Margaret became a bread-woman instead of a milk-woman. For years continued her rounds with the bread cart, which replaced the milk cart. She carried the bread just as she had carried the milk, in her cart. And still she kept giving money to the asylum.

Margaret provided for the home market and exported her produce was exported. All the asylums in New Orleans were supplied with bread from her bakery at such a low price as to be virtually free. Improvements to the bakery were always a priority. It became the first steam bakery in the south, "a marvel" providing employment for many. The bakery situated in New Levée Street was so successful that even the destruction so widespread in the South as a result of the Civil War had no effect on it.

Although she provided for orphans, fed the poor, and gave enormously in charity, her resources grew dramatically and Margaret's thriving bakery became famous. One of her businesses called "Margaret's Steam and Mechanical Bakery" became very popular, and she advertised her products by her first name. (Hence as in the plaque on her statue years later, everybody knew her by her first name). The bakery sold "Margaret's Bread" and she became the "Bread Woman of New Orleans." Eventually, she owned a popular store in the city called the Klotz Cracker Factory, associated with the Klotz Bakery.

The winos and beggars of the city used to converge on Levée Street. Margaret would not turn them away by. She always gave them a loaf of bread but cut it in half so that they could not sell it to buy alcohol.

Civil War

During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, in all the trouble and sickness and fear of that time, Margaret drove her cart of bread; she somehow always had enough to give the starving soldiers, and for her babies, besides what she sold.

The war had a profound effect on New Orleans and greatly increased the number of orphans and people in need. The commander, Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 General Benjamin Franklin Butler

Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)

Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....

, subjected New Orleans to a rigorous martial law so tactlessly administered as greatly to intensify the hostility of South and North.

During the Civil War Margaret made efforts to lessen the hardships brought on by the war by helping to feed those who suffered from the wartime food shortage. To the hungry citizens of occupied New Orleans, Haughery gave wagonloads of bread and flour, fresh from her bakery.

When General Butler occupied New Orleans and set up martial law in 1862, he set up barriers and curfews. No one was to pass these barriers or be outside past the curfew. Margaret distributed food and milk to the needy outside those lines, and continued to do so. The Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 prisoners were the special objects of her solicitude. General P.G.T. Beauregard nicknamed General Butler as "Beast Butler," due to his threats against the Southern ladies of New Orleans.

General Butler ordered her to appear before him. Margaret negotiated with the general for permission to cross the lines with aid and to get flour to her bakery. He admonished her to stay behind the lines and that she would be shot or hung if she crossed them again. She asked the general if it was President Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's will to starve the poor? General Butler replied, "You are not to go through the picket lines without my permission, is that clear?" "Quite clear," answered Margaret. To which Butler responded, "You have my permission."

During and after the Civil War her bakery flourished, as did her charitable work.

During Reconstruction, she supported the Union efforts to keep peace in Louisiana as evidenced from the ceremonial sword she donated to U.S. General C. Colon Augur, and which is part of the Louisiana State Museum’s collection.

Life in New Orleans

After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction Period she earned enough to build the big steam factory for her bread. By this time everybody in the city knew her. The children all over the city loved her; the businessmen were proud of her; the poor people all came to her for advice. She used to sit at the open door of her office, in a calico gown and little shawl, and give a good word to everybody, rich or poor. Fashion-gowned women, bankers, tradesmen and merchants sought Margaret's counsel.

Seated in the doorway of the bakery in the heart of the city, she became an integral part of its life, for besides the poor who came to her continually, she was consulted by the people of all ranks about their business affairs, her wisdom having become proverbial. "Our Margaret" the people of New Orleans called her. The locals said she was masculine in energy and courage but gifted with the gentlest and kindest manners.

When Irish-born Margaret first disembarked into Antebellum New Orleans during the cotton-boom era of commerce, she along with other waves of new Irish immigrants sought work and opportunity in Louisiana. The city of contrasts was dubbed the city of fever and fortune, a port of pestilence and prosperity. Moving away from wharf work, Irish immigrant male laborers took jobs that slaves were judged too valuable to do, such as canal ditch-diggers, levee-builders and rail-hands laying tracks through swampland. During construction of the city’s New Basin Canal

New Basin Canal

The New Basin Canal, also known as the New Orleans Canal and the New Canal, was a shipping canal in New Orleans, Louisiana from the 1830s through the 1940s....

 (shipping canal), the Irish accepted the hazardous and backbreaking work for a $1 a day wages. Although no official death-toll records were kept, an estimated 20,000 (+/-) workers perished during the project, most buried on the spot. Many widows and orphans were left. Poor and living in slums, the Irish were particularly susceptible to a series of epidemics that periodically swept the city. The Great Famine

Great Famine

Great Famine may refer to any of several historical famines:* The Great Famine of 1315–1317 in northern Europe* The Great India Famine of 1344-1345...

 of Ireland peaked and those fleeing Ireland found cheap passage to port-city New Orleans. Irish immigrants were drawn to Louisiana's Catholic traditions, first established when France and Spain ruled the territory, prior to the Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...

. By 1860, 14 percent of New Orleans population was Irish. The city was home to the third largest Irish population in the country. Irish women were a unique female immigrant group, vulnerable to ethnic and cultural stereotyping, as single women often traveled and lived together in groups, atypical to the pre-existing framework for Southern ladies.

During Margaret’s perilous and yet fruitful lifetime spent in New Orleans, mosquito-borne yellow fever epidemics remained a constant threat; during one three-year period alone, in 1853-55 the viral illness claimed 13,000. Margaret also braved and survived the 1856 Last Island Hurricane

1856 Last Island Hurricane

The Last Island hurricane of 1856 was an intense Atlantic hurricane that destroyed Last Island in southern Louisiana. The first tropical cyclone, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season, it rapidly intensified before making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The powerful...

 and the 1849 Mississippi River levee breach upriver from the city, the worst flooding the city had ever seen. The Sauvé's Crevasse

Sauvé's Crevasse

Sauvé's Crevasse was a Mississippi River levee failure that flooded much of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1849.In 1849 the Mississippi reached the highest water level observed in twenty-one years. Some seventeen miles up river from the city of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish lay a plantation belonging...

 flood left 12,000 homeless.

Orphanages built

Some of the New Orleans orphanages Margaret the “Mother of Orphans” built were St. Elizabeth Orphan Asylum on Napoleon Ave., the Louise Home on Clio Street for girls, St. Vincent Infant Asylum (at Race and Magazine Streets), and an asylum and church on Erato Street that became St. Teresa of Avila Church. She donated to the Protestant Episcopal Home as well and gave to Jewish charities in New Orleans. In her will she gave to the Seventh Street Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Orphan Catholic Asylum, the Widows and Orphans of Jews Asylum, and to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and many others.

The Sisters of Charity withdrew from Poydras Street at the end of 1836 and moved to a new location in New Levée Street, to what was considered a haunted house. It was vacant for many years and in a very poor state of repair. According to records, this was the first Catholic orphan asylum in New Orleans. It was Margaret's intention just to help the sisters get established. However it was here that she found her true calling. She showed great energy and business acumen and was made manager of the institution. She confounded everybody by proving this location habitable, none more so than the landlord who promptly put the building up for sale. So, within two years, they were again seeking a home.

Margaret knew of a house on a deserted plantation not far away and managed to persuade the owner to give it rent-free. She succeeded in fulfilling her ambition to get the children out of the city and into the Louisiana countryside. They were taught to read and write, but also to sew; they were given general preparation for entering the outside world.

It was Margaret's great ambition to provide a permanent home for the orphans and in 1840 work on the St. Theresa's Asylum on Camp Street commenced. The site was donated by F. Saulet. Largely Margaret herself funded the project, but with help from a few others who gave donations as a result of her persuasion. Nevertheless it took ten years to clear the debt and Margaret still supported the orphan asylum at the plantation at this time.

Around the mid-19th century, yellow fever was again rampant. The yellow scourge swept New Orleans. The epidemic of 1853 rendered thousands of children homeless. Margaret visited the homes of the sick Protestants, Catholics and Jews, negroes and whites alike, the Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...

, New Orleanian "Americans" and immigrants. Such were the numbers of orphans she encountered that she embarked on a new project in the form of (as she called it) a baby house. All her profits were channeled into this new endeavor, which soon took form in the shape of the imposing St. Vincent Infant Asylum at Race and Magazine streets, which opened in 1862. It took sixteen years to clear the debt, a burden shouldered mainly by Margaret.

Other homes opened in the 1850s and 1860s included the Louise Home for working girls at 1404 Clio Street and the St. Elizabeth House of Industry at 1314 Napoleon Street. During the yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans, she visited the homes of the sick and dying, without regard to race or creed or religion, aiding the victims and consoling the dying mothers with the pledge to care for their children.

It is estimated that the amount Margaret gave to charity in one form or another was in the region of $600,000.

Dress

Despite the vast sums at her disposal, philanthropist, businesswoman and social worker Margaret spent little on herself, and was reputed never to own more than two dresses — a plain one for everyday use, while on special occasions she wore a plain silk dress and mantle. At all times she wore a Quaker bonnet, which became something of a trademark.

Renewed interest in Margaret

An Ireland-based Group called the "Margaret of New Orleans Tully Committee" is reconstructing Margaret's Irish birthplace cottage, using original stone. The group is dedicated to raising awareness about Margaret and her life's work. A full-length documentary film about Irish-born American heroine Margaret has been made, Who is Margaret Haughery? And why don't you know who she is?

In 2009 the Leitrim Youth Theatre Company, Carrigallen, Ireland, mounted the first known live-theatre production of Margaret's life story. The stage performance "Our Story of Margaret of New Orleans" featured original music and songs.

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Ogden Museum of Southern Art

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in New Orleans, within the Central Business District adjacent to Lee Circle. It is associated with the University of New Orleans...

 obtained a Jacques Amans

Jacques Amans

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans was a Frenchneoclassical portrait painter working in New Orleans in the 1840s and 1850s.Amans was born in Maastricht, a Belgian city at the time. His father, Paul Serge AMANS, born in Narbonne in 1765, was a French officer of Napoléon...

original portrait of Margaret.

Other

Of the three older Gaffney family children left behind in Ireland (Thomas, Mary and Annie) when young Margaret and her parents, along with an infant and one brother, in 1819 set sail for America; for the rest of Margaret’s life of tragedy and triumph — of service and charity to others, orphans and windows in particular — she only reunited with her remaining foreign-soil siblings once, when elder brother Thomas visited her in New Orleans in 1857.

Although first entombed at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 with Sister Regis, the Sisters of Charity communal tomb was later moved to a circa 1971 mausoleum vault at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, located on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans. Margaret along with her dear friend Sister Regis, and each Sister of Charity who died prior to 1914, are listed on two plaques; Margaret's St. Louis Mausoleum final resting place is an unmarked Vault numbered 18A, located on Mary Magdalene Corridor.

New Orleans, Louisiana Archbishop Perché in his 1882 eulogy to Margaret said, “I have already been asked whether Margaret Haughery, who lived and labored so long and well amongst us, was a saint. It is not for me to make a pronouncement. But, if you put this same question to yourselves, dear brethren, you may find an answer similar to that which a little boy once made when a sister in our Sunday school enquired that somebody define a saint. 'I think' said the child, remembering the human figures in stained glass windows, ‘that a saint is one who lets the light shine through.’”