![]() In 1875, he became the second bishop of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and is known as the first U.S. In the 20th century he was claimed as the first African-American priest in the Catholic Church. After attending seminaries in Montreal and Paris, James was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 1854. Īll four of the older brothers graduated from Holy Cross. Michael, then only 6, was not enrolled at Holy Cross until 1849. ![]() His three younger brothers soon joined him: Hugh, 12, Patrick Francis Healy, 10, and Alexander Sherwood Healy (known as Sherwood), 8. His father transferred him at age 14 to preparatory classes for the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. The oldest son, James Augustine Healy, born in 1830, first went to a Quaker school in New York and New Jersey. During the late 20th century, their individual professional achievements were claimed as notable firsts for African Americans. They were part of a growing ethnic group in the mid-19th century United States. In the North, the Healy siblings were educated as and identified as Irish Catholics. Most of the children, all but one surviving infancy, achieved noteworthy success as adults. Healy's wealth and ambition provided for his children's education. Though not unusual, the Healys' common-law marriage violated laws against inter-racial marriage. As such they were prohibited formal education in Georgia, and their father sent them north to be schooled, a common practice of wealthy white planters who had mixed-race children. Under the partus principle in slave law, the Healy children were legally slaves because their mother was enslaved. He eventually owned 49 slaves as workers for his plantation among them was 16-year-old Mary Eliza Smith (or Clark), described as an octoroon or a mulatto, whom he took as his wife in 1829. He eventually acquired 1,500 acres (6.1 km 2) of land in Georgia near Macon. ![]() The senior Healy was born in 1795 in Roscommon, Ireland, and immigrated to the U.S. Healy was born into slavery near Macon, Georgia, in 1839, as the fifth of ten children of Michael Morris Healy, an Irish immigrant planter, and Mary Eliza Smith, his common-law wife, a mixed-race African-American slave. USCGC Healy, commissioned in 1999, was named in his honor. Predominately European in ancestry, they identified as Irish Catholics. His father arranged for the children to be formally educated at boarding schools in the North. Their parents were an Irish-born planter and his African-American mixed-race slave, with whom he had a common-law marriage. Nicknamed "Hell Roaring Mike," Healy was the fifth of 10 children of the Healy family of Georgia, known for their achievements in the North after being born into slavery. It had a thick wooden hull, and was powered by steam-and-sail for use as a proto-icebreaker it was put into service as a cutter in 1884. The author Jack London was inspired by Healy's command of the renowned USRC Bear. After commercial fishing had depleted the whale and seal populations, his assistance with the introduction of Siberian reindeer helped prevent starvation among the Alaskan Natives. Seward's Alaska purchase of the vast region in 1867, Healy patrolled the 20,000 miles (32,000 km) of Alaskan coastline for more than 20 years, earning great respect from the natives and seafarers alike. He commanded several vessels within the territory of the Alaskan coastline. He has been recognized since the late 20th century as the first man of African-American descent to command a ship of the United States government. Michael Augustine Healy (Septem– August 30, 1904) was an American career officer with the United States Revenue Cutter Service (predecessor of the United States Coast Guard), reaching the rank of captain.
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