Healy, James Augustine (06 April 1830–05 August 1900), Roman Catholic bishop, was born near Clinton, Georgia, the son of Michael Morris Healy, a planter, and Mary Eliza (maiden name uncertain, but possibly Clark). Healy’s Irish father had married Healy’s mother, a mulatto slave, despite strict Georgia law that made the union illegal and all of their children technically slaves. Healy’s early years were spent in the insular world of the family’s 1,600-acre plantation. When he reached school age, he and his brothers Hugh and Patrick were placed by their father in a Quaker school in Flushing, New York. There the boys, though possessing the same legal rights as their classmates, still endured the status of social outcasts because of their mixed race. This experience solidified Healy’s already guarded nature and created in him an attachment to his family that he maintained throughout his life....
