Have you ever read a great book, or an engaging story and wondered how on earth that wonderful tale has not already been snapped up by Hollywood and turned into a film?. I am sure we’ve all done it. Sometimes to the point where we can even imagine the cast, and exactly who would play the starring role.
That my friend, is exactly what happened to me this very weekend, when I found myself reading the bones of an incredible life story. One that I am absolutely sure had all the required ingredients for an Oscar winning blockbuster.
Picture the scene if you will. Our story is set in the French quarter of 19th century New Orleans. We have a real-life hero who, through grit and unwavering determination, had lifted themselves from rags to riches. Someone who, having been orphaned at just 9 years of age, and would then go on to endure awful poverty, hardship, heartbreak and tragedy.
We are talking of a hero who would emerge from a life of dreadful destitution to rise and become a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, and who then dedicates their whole life to rescuing and caring for impoverished widows and orphans, and someone who would eventually become revered as “The Angel of The Delta”.
To add spice to the story we can include bravery in the midst of the American Civil War, as well as surviving the 1853 Yellow Fever epidemics which took thousands of lives, and hurricanes. And, if all of that wasn’t enough, to top it all… it is a genuinely true story, and our courageous hero is none other than a woman. What more could Hollywood want? So, allow me share the tale…
In New Orleans there is a tiny piece of greenery at the intersection of Clio Street and Camp Street. It measures just 75 yards by 47 yards and is overshadowed by the immense concrete columns of the Pontchartrain Expressway which travels west to cross the Mississippi River. In the centre of that small piece of parkland there is a statue of a woman with an affectionate arm around a small child. Beneath the statue there is just one word “Margaret”. The Margaret in question is an indomitable Irish woman called Margaret Gaffney Haughery. Her family were from Carrigallen, County Leitrim, and in 1818 when Margaret was aged just 5 years the Gaffney family made the crossing to America to seek out what they dreamed would be a better life. Soon after landing in Baltimore the youngest Gaffney “Kathleen” died. Within 3 years both of the Gaffney parents, William & Margaret would also be taken by Yellow Fever. At the age of 9 young Margaret Gaffney was now orphaned. She was taken in by a family friend as little more than a house servant, but it put a roof over her head. Margaret would meet and eventually marry Irish born Charles Haughery in Baltimore when she was 21. Charles was not in the greatest of health and the couple made the decision to move south to New Orleans and a more temperate climate that might suit him better. It appeared at first to be the solution but Yellow Fever and cholera were rampant throughout New Orleans and shortly after the birth of their first child Frances, it was decided that Charles would return to Ireland in the hope that the clean sea air would help him recuperate his strength. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again for Margaret when she learned that Charles had died shortly after arriving in Ireland. And if that was not bad enough it was to strike once more when, within a few months, baby Frances was to take seriously ill and die. Widowed at just 23, Margaret’s family had been wiped out for the second time. Such an horrendous chain of tragic events would easily break the spirit of any ordinary person, but Margaret Haughery was no ordinary person. Such was her incredible strength of character she made a conscious decision not to be beaten down, but instead to devote her life to help and support widows and orphans. She began donating her wages as a domestic at the St Charles Hotel to the orphans of the Poydras Orphan Asylum where she would soon take up employment as the manager, supplementing the orphan’s food rations with her own wages. In 1840 The Female Orphan Asylum of the Sisters of Charity was financed and built from Margaret’s work. With yellow Fever running rife throughout New Orleans, Margaret worked and worked to support the poor and managed to open St. Theresa’s Orphan Asylum. Her determination was relentless and with it she discovered a natural flair for business. Starting out with the purchase of two cows she began selling milk from a cart in the French Quarter, and it wasn’t long before she was the proud owner of a small dairy. Her earnings contributed to the establishment of the St Vincent de Paul Infant Asylum in 1862. Margaret’s shrewd business acumen would see her take over the running of a failing bakery and transform it into a going concern rebranded as “Margaret’s Bakery”. The milk cart became a bread cart and she could now ensure that each of the orphanages of New Orleans had food on the table. She fed the orphans, she fed the poor, she fed the homeless. In the midst of all this the American Civil War was happening. New Orleans bore more than its fair share of the hardships and suffering of wartime. Once more Margaret Haughery came to the fore, supplying wagon loads of bread and flour. The Union Army occupied New Orleans, placing it under Martial Law and imposing perimeter barriers & strict curfews. So persuasive was Margaret, that she even managed to get permission from the occupying General Benjamin Franklin Butler to cross the barriers to provide food and milk to the needy who were trapped on the wrong side of the barriers. Margaret Haughery rightly earned the appellation “The Angel of The Delta”. Throughout her life she toiled to support the widows and orphans of New Orleans. She became a very successful business woman who ploughed the profits into the orphanages and homes for the needy. That was her life’s work, and in that she was an immensely successful Irish woman. At the age of 69 Margaret was taken ill with an apparently incurable disease. Though fading, she was cared for by her friends The Sisters of Charity. Such was her fame in New Orleans that the good and the great came to visit her bedside. She was presented with a crucifix and a blessing sent directly from Pope Pius IX. She passed away on Thursday February 9th, was embalmed and laid in state until her funeral on Saturday 13th February. The funeral of Margaret Haughery was indeed a huge state affair and would prove to be the largest funeral New Orleans had ever seen. Thousands of people from every walk of life attended the funeral. Archbishops and politicians mingled with the orphans to say their last farewell to a great lady. The streets of New Orleans were packed with mourners. Every sidewalk, every doorway, every window & balcony was filled with onlookers. Such was the enormous effect that Margaret Haughery had had on people’s lives. Even in death she kept on giving. On Monday 13th February, just 2 days after her funeral, her will was published. She generously left her sizeable fortune to the charities and orphanages of New Orleans. Most astonishingly of all was that throughout all of her struggles, all of her selfless work, and all of her business successes, The Angel of The Delta had never learned to read and write, and her last will and testament was signed with a simple X. I hope one day to visit New Orleans, and to take a gentle stroll to the corner of Clio Street and Camp Street. To that small piece of parkland where I will gladly take some time to gaze upon that simple statue and reflect on the incredible life story of that courageous Irish woman - Margaret Haughrey “The Angel of the Delta”. Over to you Hollywood!
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