Margaret Haughery (1813–1882) was a philanthropist known as "the mother of the orphans".
She opened up four orphanages in the New Orleans area in the 19th century. Many years later in the 20th and 21st centuries several of the asylums Margaret originally founded as places of shelter for orphans and widows evolved into homes for the elderly.
Margaret Gaffney Haughery (pronounced as HAW -a- ree) was a beloved historical figure in New Orleans, Louisiana the 1880s. Widely known as “Our Margaret,” “The Bread Woman of New Orleans" and “Mother of Orphans,” Margaret devoted her life’s work to the care and feeding of the poor and hungry, and to fund and build orphanages throughout the city. The poor called her "Saint Margaret."
An Irish immigrant widow woman of many titles, Margaret was also commonly referred to as the “Angel of the Delta,” “Mother Margaret,” “Margaret of New Orleans,” the “Celebrated Margaret” and “Margaret of Tully.” A Catholic, she worked closely with New Orleans Sisters of Charity, associated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans (the second-oldest diocese in the present-day United States).
A woman of unsurpassed charity, Margaret became famed for her lifelong championing of the destitute. Countless thousands of all creeds considered her a living saint worthy of canonization.
Born into poverty and orphaned at a young age, she began her adult life as a washwoman and a peddler — yet she died an epic businesswoman and philanthropist who received a state funeral.

Margaret was born into poverty in Ireland in 1813, as the fifth child of William and Margaret O'Rourke Gaffney. Margaret was birthed in a stone cottage, as were her siblings. Margaret’s parents were from Tully South, in the parish of Carrigallen. Her father William was a small farmer and possibly a tailor, who owned a small shop.
Based on Irish parochial, baptismal and newspaper records,the Gaffney family lived in Tully, Carrigallen County Leitrim.

In 1822 Margaret became an orphan when both parents died of disease. Margaret, now nine, was homeless and soon alone as her older brother Kevin disappeared and was never heard from again.
The same woman of Welsh extraction who made the overseas crossing with the Gaffney family heard of Margaret’s plight. The woman with the surname Richards, who lost her own husband to yellow fever, took Margaret in. She sheltered and cared for little orphan Margaret in her home.
There Margaret remained for some years, where she worked for her keep. In fact she may have been little more than a servant. Margaret received no formal education. Margaret never learned to read or write.
When old enough, Margaret went into domestic service, which was the norm for Irishwomen in Baltimore at that time. She worked as a hungstress”

As immigrant young widow woman in New Orleans, Margaret first found work in the laundry of the St. Charles Hotel.
From those humble beginnings she went on to establish herself as a remarkable businesswoman and "angel of mercy" who merged her hard work, business talents and philanthropic goals.
In the beginning, all day, from morning until evening, she ironed clothes in a laundry. Every day, as she worked by the window she saw motherless children from the orphan asylum near by, working and playing about. After a while, great plagues of sickness fell upon the city, and so many mothers and fathers died that there were more orphans than the asylum could care for. Margaret stepped in.
While still working as a laundress, she went to Sisters of Charity who ran the asylum and told them she was giving them part of her wages, and she intended to work for them, besides. Early on she became acquainted with worked closely with a nun named Sister Regis.
At that time in New Orleans, the Sisters of Charity under the guidance of Sister Regis managed the Poydras Orphan Asylum (established by Julien de Lallande Poydras). Margaret was deeply moved by the plight of the orphan children offered her assistance. Margaret eventually left her position at the hotel in order to help with the orphans. She became employed in the orphan asylum and when the orphans were without food she bought it for them from her earnings. Her first job was the collection of food from any available source.
Margaret an effective and resourceful money raiser in soliciting funds for the orphans. She was so successful that several other facilities were opened. She was rewarded for her efforts with a position in the administration of the orphanages.
Margaret and the nuns worked together for many years helping neglected orphans and widows in the city. Although a Catholic, Margaret made certain that all her charity work was opened to people of all religions and backgrounds.

Some of the New Orleans orphanages Margaret the “Mother of Orphans” built were St. Elizabeth Orphan Asylum on Napoleon Ave., the Louise Home on Clio Street for girls, St. Vincent Infant Asylum (at Race and Magazine Streets), and an asylum and church on Erato Street that became St. Teresa of Avila Church. She donated to the Protestant Episcopal Home as well and gave to Jewish charities in New Orleans. In her will she gave to the Seventh Street Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, the German Orphan Catholic Asylum, the Widows and Orphans of Jews Asylum, and to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and many others.
The Sisters of Charity withdrew from Poydras Street at the end of 1836 and moved to a new location in New Levée Street, to what was considered a haunted house. It was vacant for many years and in a very poor state of repair. According to records, this was the first Catholic orphan asylum in New Orleans. It was Margaret's intention just to help the sisters get established. However it was here that she found her true calling. She showed great energy and business acumen and was made manager of the institution. She confounded everybody by proving this location habitable, none more so than the landlord who promptly put the building up for sale. So, within two years, they were again seeking a home.
Margaret knew of a house on a deserted plantation not far away and managed to persuade the owner to give it rent-free. She succeeded in fulfilling her ambition to get the children out of the city and into the Louisiana countryside. They were taught to read and write, but also to sew; they were given general preparation for entering the outside world.
It was Margaret's great ambition to provide a permanent home for the orphans and in 1840 work on the St. Theresa's Asylum on Camp Street commenced. The site was donated by F. Saulet. Largely Margaret herself funded the project, but with help from a few others who gave donations as a result of her persuasion. Nevertheless it took ten years to clear the debt and Margaret still supported the orphan asylum at the plantation at this time.
Around the mid-19th century, yellow fever was again rampant. The yellow scourge swept New Orleans. The epidemic of 1853 rendered thousands of children homeless. Margaret visited the homes of the sick Protestants, Catholics and Jews, negroes and whites alike, the Louisiana Creole people, New Orleanian "Americans" and immigrants. Such were the numbers of orphans she encountered that she embarked on a new project in the form of (as she called it) a baby house. All her profits were channeled into this new endeavor, which soon took form in the shape of the imposing St. Vincent Infant Asylum at Race and Magazine streets, which opened in 1862. It took sixteen years to clear the debt, a burden shouldered mainly by Margaret.
Other homes opened in the 1850s and 1860s included the Louise Home for working girls at 1404 Clio Street and the St. Elizabeth House of Industry at 1314 Napoleon Street. During the yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans, she visited the homes of the sick and dying, without regard to race or creed or religion, aiding the victims and consoling the dying mothers with the pledge to care for their children.
It is estimated that the amount Margaret gave to charity in one form or another was in the region of $600,000.
Renewed interest in Margaret
An Ireland-based Group called the "Margaret of New Orleans Tully Committee" is reconstructing Margaret's Irish birthplace cottage, using original stone. The group is dedicated to raising awareness about Margaret and her life's work. A full-length documentary film about Irish-born American heroine Margaret has been made, Who is Margaret Haughery? And why don't you know who she is?
In 2009 the Leitrim Youth Theatre Company, Carrigallen, Ireland, mounted the first known live-theatre production of Margaret's life story. The stage performance "Our Story of Margaret of New Orleans" featured original music and songs.
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art obtained a Jacques Amans original portrait of Margaret.