Michael Augustine Healy (1839 - 1904)

Born 22 Sep 1839 in Jones, Georgia, United States

Husband of Mary Jane (Roach) Healy — married 31 Jan 1865 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died 30 Aug 1904 at age 64 in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States

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Biography

Michael Healy is Notable.

Captain Michael A. Healy was the first man of African-American to command a ship of the United States government. He commanded several vessels for the U.S. Revenue Marine, patrolling the Alaskan coastline for over years. The USCGC Healy, an icebreaker that is the largest cutter in the U.S. Coast Guard fleet, is named for him.^[1][2]

Michael was born in 1839. He was the son of Michael Healy and Mary Clark.

After working as a merchant seaman for several years, in 1864 he applied for a commission in the U.S. Revenue Marine and was accepted as a third lieutenant. He served aboard cutters along the U.S. east coast and in Alaska, and was promoted to captain in 1883.^[1]

Michael Healy, Jr., married Mary Jane Roach on 31 January 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts. According to the record, he was 25 years old, a son of Michael and Eliza Healy, born in Macon, Georgia, and was a mariner living in Newton, Massachusetts. Mary Jane was 28, born in Boston, a daughter of John and Margaret Roach. The marriage officiant was James A. Healy of Boston (older brother of Michael Healy).^[3][4] The 1870 U.S. Census recorded Michael Healey, age 27, a native of Georgia, occupation Revenue Service, as a resident of ward 10 in Boston, head of a household that also included Mary J. Healey, 26, a native of Massachusetts; and John Roach, 51, and Margaret Roach, 50, both born in Ireland. The home probably belonged to John Roach, who reported having $8000 in real estate; Michael Healey probably was away on boats for much of the year.^[5]

He passed away in 1904 and is buried at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery Colma, California.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Braynard, Lt. j.g. Katie. Coast Guard Heroes: Capt. Michael Healy, Coast Guard Compass, October 2015. Accessed on coastguard.dodlive.mil on 3 July 2020.
2. ↑ United States Coast Guard Pacific Area and USCGC HEALY (WAGB-20), United States Coast Guard website, accessed 30 December 2020.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N4S5-G2K : 7 December 2017), Michael Healy and Mary Jane Roach, 31 Jan 1865; citing , Boston, Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 1,433,022.
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHSB-M8S : 26 September 2017), Michael Jr. Healy and Mary Jane Roach, 31 Jan 1865; citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 817,620.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD35-XKH : 12 April 2016), Michael Healey, Massachusetts, United States; citing p. 127, family 919, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,145.
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #11549559

See also:

• O'Toole, James M. Racial Identity and the Case of Captain Michael Healy, USRCS, Prologue Magazine (National Archives and Records Administration), Fall 1997, Vol. 29, No. 3. Accessed on www.archives.gov on 3 July 2020.
• Wikipedia: Michael_A._Healy
• "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVZ-6LP5 : 13 December 2015), Michael Augustine Healy, 1904; Burial, Colma, San Mateo, California, United States of America, Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery; citing record ID 11549559, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
• Jim Goulding; The Healys: One Extraordinary Family, Posted by on March 10, 2014