Michael Healy
Encyclopedia
Michael Augustine Healy (September 22, 1839 – August 30, 1904) was an American captain in the United States Revenue Cutter Service
(predecessor of the United States Coast Guard
).
Following U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward
's Alaska purchase
of the vast region in 1867, Healy patrolled the 20000 miles (32,186.8 km) of Alaskan coastline for more than 20 years, earning great respect from the natives and seafarers alike. After commercial fishing had depleted the whale and seal populations, his assistance with introduction of Siberian reindeer
helped prevent starvation among the native Alaskans.
Nicknamed "Hell Roaring Mike", Healy has been identified as the first man of African-American descent to command a ship of the United States government, although he identified as Irish American during his lifetime. The author Jack London
was inspired by his command of the USRC Bear. Commissioned in 1999, the USCGC Healy
was named in his honor.
in 1839, the fifth of ten children of Michael Morris Healy, an Irish immigrant planter
, and Eliza, his common-law wife, a mixed-race African-American slave (or former slave; sources vary). The senior Healy was born in 1795 and emigrated from County Roscommon
in 1818. By a land lottery and purchase, he eventually acquired 1500 acres (6.1 km²) of land in Jones County, Georgia
, across the Ocmulgee River
from the market town of Macon. He became among the more successful planters, and came to own 49 slaves for his labor-intensive cotton plantation. Among them was 16-year-old Mary Eliza Smith (or Clark), whom he took as his wife in 1829. Mary Eliza Healy has been described in various accounts as "slave" and "former slave", and as mulatto
and black. More significantly, under laws at the time, the Healy children were born into slavery by being born to an enslaved mother, under the partus principle. They could not be formally educated in Georgia, and the state had made manumission
contingent on legislative approval, nearly impossible to obtain. As the children were majority European, perhaps as much as three-quarters ancestry, their father decided to send them north for education, as some other wealthy white planters did for their mixed-race children.
Common-law marriages such as that of Michael and Mary Healy were not infrequent, but they violated the prohibition against marriage between races, or miscegenation
. Backed by their father's securing their educations and by his wealth, most of the children of the Healy family of Georgia
, all but one of whom survived to adulthood, achieved noteworthy success as adults. In the twentieth century, the achievements of Michael, his sister Eliza, and two of his brothers have been claimed as notable firsts for people of African-American descent, although the siblings identified and were accepted as Irish American at the time, while not denying their multiracial background. Michael took a much different path from the rest of his siblings, who had careers in the Catholic Church.
The oldest son, James
, born in 1830, was sent to Flushing, New York in 1837 where he attended a Quaker school. He was later transferred to another Quaker school in Burlington, New Jersey
. Successively, James' younger brothers followed him in this path. The Quaker schools posed their own problems for the boys, as they were criticized for having a slaveholder father (the Quakers by then believed in abolition
) and were discriminated against for being of Irish descent at a time of massive Irish immigration due to the famine.
While traveling, the senior Michael Healy met John Bernard Fitzpatrick
, the Catholic
bishop of the Diocese of Boston
and learned of the new College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, Massachusetts
. Its preparatory classes accepted children of grammar school age. In 1844, Healy transferred James to Holy Cross, joined by three of his younger brothers, aged 12, 10, and 8. Michael, who was then 6 years old, was enrolled at Holy Cross in 1849.
All four of the older brothers graduated from Holy Cross. Hugh decided to go into business in New York, but died from an infection at age 21 after a boating accident. The three older brothers entered the priesthood. James Augustine Healy
was ordained in 1854. (In the 20th century, he was claimed as the first African-American priest in the Catholic Church. He later became the first African-American Catholic bishop in the United States when he was named the second bishop of the Diocese of Portland
in 1875. Patrick Francis Healy
became a Jesuit, became the first African-American to earn a PhD
, at Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris, and was named a dean at Georgetown University
in 1866. At the age of 39, in 1874, he assumed the presidency of what was then the largest Catholic college in the United States. Alexander Sherwood Healy was also ordained as a priest, and also obtained his doctoral degree at Saint-Sulpice. He became an expert in canon law
, and served as director of the seminary in Troy, New York
and rector of the cathedral in Boston. Sherwood, as he was known, used his musical talent to form the Boston Choral Union which helped raise funds for a new cathedral. His career was cut short by an early death at age 39.
All three of Michael Healy's sisters attended parochial schools in Canada and ultimately entered orders. The two younger ones spent several years with their family in Boston, then decided they were called to religious life and each became a nun. Several years after taking her vows, Martha, the oldest, left her convent and moved to Boston. She married a man of Irish descent there. Josephine joined the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph.
Eliza Healy joined the Congregation of Notre Dame
in Montreal
, where she was known as Sister Mary Magdalen. After teaching in Quebec and Ontario, in 1903 she was appointed abbess or Mother Superior
of the convent and school of Villa Barlow in St. Albans, Vermont
. She is now known also as the first woman of African-American descent to reach this position.
Michael preferred a more adventuresome life than his older brothers. Before he was 12 years old, both parents had died. His oldest brother James became something of a surrogate parent, but he was unable to convince Michael to follow his career path. Unhappy and rebellious at Holy Cross, Michael at 15 went to a seminary in France. The following year he left the school and went to sea.
In 1864, Healy returned to his family in Boston. He applied for a commission in the Revenue Cutter Service and was accepted as a Third Lieutenant, his commission being signed by President Abraham Lincoln
.
Under U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, during the administration of President Andrew Johnson
, in 1867, the Alaska purchase took place. The huge territory, with 20000 miles (32,186.8 km) of coastline, was initially called by many skeptics "Seward's Folly".
Healy made his first trip to Alaskan waters in 1868 aboard the . He attained the rank of Captain in 1880. By 1882 he was given command of the and was thoroughly familiar with the Bering Sea
and Alaska. The Corwin's responsibilities included liquor enforcement, protection of seal and whale populations protected by treaty, delivery of supplies, mail and medicines to remote villages, the return of deserters to merchant ships, the collection of weather data, rendering of medical assistance, search and rescue, enforcement of federal laws, and exploration work.
During the last two decades of the 19th century, Healy was essentially the federal government’s law enforcement presence in the vast territory. In his twenty years of service between San Francisco and Point Barrrow, he acted as: judge, doctor, and policemen to Alaskan natives, merchant seamen and whaling crews. The Native Americans throughout the vast regions of the north came to know and respect this skipper and called his ship "Healy's Fire Canoe".
Healy operated in an eerie echo of what would become the mission of his Coast Guard successors a century later: protecting the natural resources of the region, suppressing illegal trade, resupply of remote outposts, enforcement of the law, and search and rescue. Even in the early days of Arctic operations, science was an important part of the mission. Renowned naturalist
John Muir
made a number of voyages with Healy during the 1880s as part of an ambitious scientific program.
During visits to Siberia
, across the Bering Sea from the Alaskan coast, Healy observed that the Chukchi people
had domesticated reindeer
and used them for food, travel, and clothing. With the reduction in the seal and whale populations from commercial fishing activities, and to aid in transportation, working with Reverend Sheldon Jackson
, a Presbyterian missionary
and political leader in the territory, Healy helped introduce reindeer from Siberia to Alaska to provide food, clothing and other necessities for the native peoples. This work was noted in the New York Sun
newspaper in 1894. Healy's compassion for the native population was expressed in many deeds and in his standing order: "Never make a promise to a native you do not intend to keep to the letter."
Healy retired in 1904 at the mandatory retirement age of 64. He died on August 30, 1904, in San Francisco of a heart attack. He was buried in Colma, California
. At the time, his African-American ancestry was not generally known; he was of majority-white ancestry and had identified with white Catholic and maritime communities.
United States Revenue Cutter Service
The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law enforcement service. Throughout its entire existence the Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the United States Department of the Treasury...
(predecessor of the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
).
Following U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
's Alaska purchase
Alaska purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from Russia in 1867 by a treaty ratified by the Senate. The purchase, made at the initiative of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, gained of new United States territory...
of the vast region in 1867, Healy patrolled the 20000 miles (32,186.8 km) of Alaskan coastline for more than 20 years, earning great respect from the natives and seafarers alike. After commercial fishing had depleted the whale and seal populations, his assistance with introduction of Siberian reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
helped prevent starvation among the native Alaskans.
Nicknamed "Hell Roaring Mike", Healy has been identified as the first man of African-American descent to command a ship of the United States government, although he identified as Irish American during his lifetime. The author Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
was inspired by his command of the USRC Bear. Commissioned in 1999, the USCGC Healy
USCGC Healy (WAGB-20)
USCGC Healy is a research icebreaker put into commission in 1999 by the United States Coast Guard.-Construction:Healy was constructed by Avondale Industries in New Orleans, Louisiana and named in honor of Captain "Hell Roaring" Michael A. Healy U.S.R.C.S. Her keel was laid on September 16, 1996...
was named in his honor.
Early life and education
Michael Healy was born near Macon, GeorgiaMacon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
in 1839, the fifth of ten children of Michael Morris Healy, an Irish immigrant planter
Planter
Planter may refer to:*A flower pot or box for plants**Jardinière, one such type of pot*A person or object engaged in sowing seeds**Planter , implement towed behind a tractor, used for sowing crops through a field*A coloniser...
, and Eliza, his common-law wife, a mixed-race African-American slave (or former slave; sources vary). The senior Healy was born in 1795 and emigrated from County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon 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 town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
in 1818. By a land lottery and purchase, he eventually acquired 1500 acres (6.1 km²) of land in Jones County, Georgia
Jones County, Georgia
Jones County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 10, 1807. As of 2010, the population was 27,740 . The county seat is Gray.-History:The county is named after U.S...
, across the Ocmulgee River
Ocmulgee River
The Ocmulgee River is a tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi long, in the U.S. state of Georgia...
from the market town of Macon. He became among the more successful planters, and came to own 49 slaves for his labor-intensive cotton plantation. Among them was 16-year-old Mary Eliza Smith (or Clark), whom he took as his wife in 1829. Mary Eliza Healy has been described in various accounts as "slave" and "former slave", and as mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
and black. More significantly, under laws at the time, the Healy children were born into slavery by being born to an enslaved mother, under the partus principle. They could not be formally educated in Georgia, and the state had made manumission
Manumission
Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his or her slaves. In the United States before the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished most slavery, this often happened upon the death of the owner, under conditions in his will.-Motivations:The...
contingent on legislative approval, nearly impossible to obtain. As the children were majority European, perhaps as much as three-quarters ancestry, their father decided to send them north for education, as some other wealthy white planters did for their mixed-race children.
Common-law marriages such as that of Michael and Mary Healy were not infrequent, but they violated the prohibition against marriage between races, or miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
. Backed by their father's securing their educations and by his wealth, most of the children of the Healy family of Georgia
Healy family of Georgia
The Healy family of Georgia became notable in U.S. history because the siblings achieved much in the second half of the nineteenth century, most within the Catholic Church. They were born in Jones County, Georgia to Mary Eliza, a mulatto slave, and her common-law husband, Michael Morris Healy, an...
, all but one of whom survived to adulthood, achieved noteworthy success as adults. In the twentieth century, the achievements of Michael, his sister Eliza, and two of his brothers have been claimed as notable firsts for people of African-American descent, although the siblings identified and were accepted as Irish American at the time, while not denying their multiracial background. Michael took a much different path from the rest of his siblings, who had careers in the Catholic Church.
The oldest son, James
James Augustine Healy
James Augustine Healy was the first African-American Roman Catholic priest and the first African-American Roman Catholic bishop in the United States...
, born in 1830, was sent to Flushing, New York in 1837 where he attended a Quaker school. He was later transferred to another Quaker school in Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington, New Jersey
Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 9,920....
. Successively, James' younger brothers followed him in this path. The Quaker schools posed their own problems for the boys, as they were criticized for having a slaveholder father (the Quakers by then believed in abolition
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
) and were discriminated against for being of Irish descent at a time of massive Irish immigration due to the famine.
While traveling, the senior Michael Healy met John Bernard Fitzpatrick
John Bernard Fitzpatrick
John Bernard Fitzpatrick was an Irish American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Boston from 1846 until his death in 1866.-Early life and education:...
, the 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"...
bishop of the Diocese of Boston
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States. It comprises several counties of the state of Massachusetts...
and learned of the new College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
. Its preparatory classes accepted children of grammar school age. In 1844, Healy transferred James to Holy Cross, joined by three of his younger brothers, aged 12, 10, and 8. Michael, who was then 6 years old, was enrolled at Holy Cross in 1849.
All four of the older brothers graduated from Holy Cross. Hugh decided to go into business in New York, but died from an infection at age 21 after a boating accident. The three older brothers entered the priesthood. James Augustine Healy
James Augustine Healy
James Augustine Healy was the first African-American Roman Catholic priest and the first African-American Roman Catholic bishop in the United States...
was ordained in 1854. (In the 20th century, he was claimed as the first African-American priest in the Catholic Church. He later became the first African-American Catholic bishop in the United States when he was named the second bishop of the Diocese of Portland
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the New England region of the United States comprising the entire state of Maine...
in 1875. Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy was the 29th President of Georgetown University known for expanding the school following the American Civil War. He was accepted as and identified as Irish-American. Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark, was constructed during Healy's tenure and is named after him...
became a Jesuit, became the first African-American to earn a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, at Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris, and was named a dean at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in 1866. At the age of 39, in 1874, he assumed the presidency of what was then the largest Catholic college in the United States. Alexander Sherwood Healy was also ordained as a priest, and also obtained his doctoral degree at Saint-Sulpice. He became an expert in canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, and served as director of the seminary in Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
and rector of the cathedral in Boston. Sherwood, as he was known, used his musical talent to form the Boston Choral Union which helped raise funds for a new cathedral. His career was cut short by an early death at age 39.
All three of Michael Healy's sisters attended parochial schools in Canada and ultimately entered orders. The two younger ones spent several years with their family in Boston, then decided they were called to religious life and each became a nun. Several years after taking her vows, Martha, the oldest, left her convent and moved to Boston. She married a man of Irish descent there. Josephine joined the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph.
Eliza Healy joined the Congregation of Notre Dame
Congregation of Notre Dame
The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1653 by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal, Canada. This was one of the first non-cloistered communities. The community's motherhouse has continued to be based in Montreal...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where she was known as Sister Mary Magdalen. After teaching in Quebec and Ontario, in 1903 she was appointed abbess or Mother Superior
Mother Superior
A mother superior is an abbess or other nun in charge of a Christian religious order or congregation, a convent or house of women under vows.Mother superior may also refer to:*Mother Superior , a rock band who became ¾ of Rollins Band circa 2000...
of the convent and school of Villa Barlow in St. Albans, Vermont
St. Albans, Vermont
Places named St. Albans, Vermont:*St. Albans , Vermont, town in Franklin County, Vermont, established in 1763**St. Albans Raid, 1864*St. Albans , Vermont, city in Franklin County, Vermont, established in 1902...
. She is now known also as the first woman of African-American descent to reach this position.
Michael preferred a more adventuresome life than his older brothers. Before he was 12 years old, both parents had died. His oldest brother James became something of a surrogate parent, but he was unable to convince Michael to follow his career path. Unhappy and rebellious at Holy Cross, Michael at 15 went to a seminary in France. The following year he left the school and went to sea.
Career
In England, he signed aboard the American East Indian clipper Jumna as a cabin boy in 1854. However, he quickly became an expert seaman. Soon thereafter, he rose to the rank of officer on merchant vessels.In 1864, Healy returned to his family in Boston. He applied for a commission in the Revenue Cutter Service and was accepted as a Third Lieutenant, his commission being signed by 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...
.
Under U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, during the administration of President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, in 1867, the Alaska purchase took place. The huge territory, with 20000 miles (32,186.8 km) of coastline, was initially called by many skeptics "Seward's Folly".
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
and Alaska. The Corwin's responsibilities included liquor enforcement, protection of seal and whale populations protected by treaty, delivery of supplies, mail and medicines to remote villages, the return of deserters to merchant ships, the collection of weather data, rendering of medical assistance, search and rescue, enforcement of federal laws, and exploration work.
During the last two decades of the 19th century, Healy was essentially the federal government’s law enforcement presence in the vast territory. In his twenty years of service between San Francisco and Point Barrrow, he acted as: judge, doctor, and policemen to Alaskan natives, merchant seamen and whaling crews. The Native Americans throughout the vast regions of the north came to know and respect this skipper and called his ship "Healy's Fire Canoe".
Healy operated in an eerie echo of what would become the mission of his Coast Guard successors a century later: protecting the natural resources of the region, suppressing illegal trade, resupply of remote outposts, enforcement of the law, and search and rescue. Even in the early days of Arctic operations, science was an important part of the mission. Renowned naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
made a number of voyages with Healy during the 1880s as part of an ambitious scientific program.
During visits to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, across the Bering Sea from the Alaskan coast, Healy observed that the Chukchi people
Chukchi people
The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
had domesticated reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
and used them for food, travel, and clothing. With the reduction in the seal and whale populations from commercial fishing activities, and to aid in transportation, working with Reverend Sheldon Jackson
Sheldon Jackson
Sheldon Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary who also became a political leader. During this career he travelled about 1 million miles and established over 100 missions and churches in the Western United States. He is best remembered for his extensive work during the final quarter of the 19th...
, a Presbyterian missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
and political leader in the territory, Healy helped introduce reindeer from Siberia to Alaska to provide food, clothing and other necessities for the native peoples. This work was noted in the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
newspaper in 1894. Healy's compassion for the native population was expressed in many deeds and in his standing order: "Never make a promise to a native you do not intend to keep to the letter."
Healy retired in 1904 at the mandatory retirement age of 64. He died on August 30, 1904, in San Francisco of a heart attack. He was buried in Colma, California
Colma, California
Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,792 at the 2010 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924....
. At the time, his African-American ancestry was not generally known; he was of majority-white ancestry and had identified with white Catholic and maritime communities.
Marriage and family
In 1865, Healy married Mary Jane Roach, who was the daughter of Irish immigrants. She was a supportive wife who traveled with her husband. Despite 18 pregnancies, she bore only one child who survived, a son named Frederick who was born in 1870.Legacy
- Healy was the first African-American to command a ship of the United States government.
- Commissioned in 1999, the research icebreaker USCGC Healy (WAGB-20)USCGC Healy (WAGB-20)USCGC Healy is a research icebreaker put into commission in 1999 by the United States Coast Guard.-Construction:Healy was constructed by Avondale Industries in New Orleans, Louisiana and named in honor of Captain "Hell Roaring" Michael A. Healy U.S.R.C.S. Her keel was laid on September 16, 1996...
was named in his honor.
- Healy was an inspiration for Jack London's book, The Sea-WolfThe Sea-WolfThe Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an ocean collision who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him...
. London has a scene in which Healy's revenue cutter, the USRC Bear, comes to the rescue at the end of the novel.
- The former site in Jones County, Georgia, of the Healy plantation is now called Healy Point and includes the Healy Point Country Club.
- James Michener used Healy as a historic figure in his novel AlaskaAlaska (novel)Alaska is a historical novel by James A. Michener. Like other Michener titles, Alaska spans a considerable amount of time.-Plot introduction:...
.
Additional reading
- James M. O'Toole, Passing for White: Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820–1920, University of Massachusetts Press, 2003, ISBN 1-55849-417-0
- A.D. Powell, Passing for Who You Really Are, Palm Coast, 2005, ISBN 0-939479-22-2
- Truman R. Strobridge, Dennis L. Noble, Alaska and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service: 1867–1915, Naval Institute Press, 1999, ISBN 1-55750-845-3
- Dennis L. Noble and Truman R. Strobridge, Captain "Hell Roaring" Mike Healy : from American slave to Arctic hero, University Press of Florida, c2009, ISBN 978-0-8130-3368-6
- Healy, Michael A.; John C. Cantwell; Samuel B. McLenegan; Herbert W. Yemans (1889). Report of the cruise of the revenue marine steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean in the year 1884, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office
- Healy, M. A. (1887). Report of the cruise of the revenue marine steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, 1885, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office