Margaret (Gaffney) Haughery was born in Tully, Carrigallen, County Leitrim, Ireland in 1813 and emigrated to America with her family when she was 5 years old. 

Personal tragedies experienced both as a child and later as a parent shaped her life-long devotion to serving New Orleans’ poor.

Margaret was one of the first women in the United States to have a statue erected in her honour. Citizens of New Orleans commissioned a statue in her likeness soon after she died in 1882. Sculpted by Andrew Doyle using Italian marble, the statue has stood since 1884 in the Lower Garden District at the intersection of Prytania and Clio Streets