Margaret Mary Healy Murphy

Margaret Mary Healy-Murphy
Margaret Mary Healy-Murphy, c. 1870
Born	Margaret Mary Healy May 4, 1833 Cahirciveen, County Kerry, Ireland
Died	August 25, 1907

Margaret Mary Healy-Murphy (May 4, 1833 - August 25, 1907) was an Irish immigrant to the United States. She and her family crossed the Atlantic Ocean and eventually moved westward from West Virginia to Mexico and Texas before the Civil War. She lived in Corpus Christi until her mid-fifties. After the death of her husband, she embarked on her life's vocation. Murphy went to San Antonio and founded the first congregation of Roman Catholic nuns in Texas. She is also known for founding the first free and private school for African Americans in San Antonio. Throughout her life, she helped the poor and reached out to help African Americans and Mexican Americans.

Murphy was the oldest of four children and was born and raised in Cahirciveen, Ireland. Murphy was a relative of Daniel O'Connell who worked politically to end slavery through the British Parliament system. Her mother died when Murphy was five. Her father was a doctor who helped the poor in the neighboring regions of Cahirciveen.

After the death of her mother, Mary and Johanna Murphy, her aunts, helped take care of the children. After the Act of Union, Ireland became severely impoverished and some of the family decided to emigrate. Most of the family came to work on a farm in West Virginia, however, her sister, Jeannie Healy went to a boarding school in Namur. Murphy, then only six, wanted to stay with her father who did not want to emigrate at the time. She did, and was enrolled in a school in Ireland that gave her a solid educational foundation. Murphy's father later volunteered to be a ship's physician on a ship emigrating to the United States.