Margaret Haughery was born in 1814 in Cavan, Ireland, the daughter of Charles and Margaret (O'Rourke) Gaffney. When she was about eight years old, her parents brought her with them to America. Almost immediately after their arrival both parents died in Baltimore, and Margaret’s rearing was taken over by a Welsh family that had crossed in the vessel with her.
Margaret lived in a very poor family who were unable to send her to school.
After death of her husband and child Margaret Haughery turned toward religion. She worked for a while as laundress in a hotel, and later, having saved enough funds, bought two cows and started a dairy. Her business prospered, and she soon put both it and herself at the disposal of a practically defunct Catholic orphan asylum. In behalf of her new interest, she peddled her butter and milk through the city, devoting the proceeds and as much discarded food as she could beg to the support of the orphan protégés who were constantly becoming dearer to her.
After a while, Margaret took over for debt a small baker’s shop. This business prospered also, becoming at length one of the largest bakeries in the South, and is said to have been the first there to employ steam. Thrifty, shrewd, and kindly, before long, she was known everywhere merely as “Margaret, ” one of the institutions of the city. Money somehow flooded in to her, and she was in haste to release it, particularly for the wellbeing of orphans. She worked closely with New Orleans Sisters of Charity, associated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Quotes from others about the person
"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. "
In 1835 Margaret married Charles Haughery. Within a year his health failed and he died. Within a brief time their only child also died.
