By Grace Crawford

From a wooded hill in Jones County on a plantation overlooking the Okmulgee River comes the dramatic story of an Irishman and a slave girl -- and their remarkable children.

One of them was the first Georgian to become a Catholic bishop and America's first black Catholic priest and bishop. Another was the only Negro ever to be named president of all-white Georgetown University in Washington. A third son built Boston Cathedral during his pastorate there. Still another became a famous sea captain around whom Jack London is believed to have based his adventure story, "The Sea Wolf." And two daughters became Catholic Sisters, one making notable contributions in the field of education.

This is not the story of a slave owner and his consort, but of Michael Morris Healy, a dark-haired young Irishman who loved and married Mary Eliza Smith, a Georgia-born mulatto slave girl and honored her as his sole and lawful wife.

Although a common law marriage in the strict sense, the union was declared valid by the Roman Catholic Church because of the absence of a priest in the pre-Civil War year of 1829 and because Georgia law forbad such interracial marriages.

The full story of the Healy family apparently was unknown to Middle Georgians for more than 130 years.

It was the persistence of Reverend Albert J. Foley, a Jesuit priest working on his doctorate in sociology that resulted in a book about Bishop James Augustine Healy, his brothers and sisters, his parents and their determination that their children should be brought up as free citizens, not as slaves.

Father Foley's Bishop Healy: Beloved Outcast first was published in 1954 and was the subject of a nationally televised program emanating from NBC Radio City Music Hall in New York, with a script by television writer, Rod Serling. But only a few Macon Catholics read, or even heard of the book, and no one can determine whether the program was carried by area NBC affiliates.

A few days ago, the man who 25 years ago journeyed from New Orleans to Jones County to spend several months researching the Healys, was back. Sunday, June 8, Father Foley led a group of Macon Catholics and clergy by way of the River North property to a spot about 300 yards from the grave of the Irishman and his wife.

In a short ceremony, a bronze marker mounted on a large fieldstone was dedicated in memory of the Bishop of Portland, Maine and his family. The occasion, according to the Rev. Michael Delea, pastor of St. Peter Claver Catholic Church, marked the anniversary of Bishop Healy's ordination. The plaque was the gift of Archbishop Thomas Donnellan of the Archdiocese of Atlanta and Bishop Raymond Lessard of the Diocese of Savannah. The service was attended by more than 200 persons.

A few days ago, Father Foley, now affiliated with Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL, was telling of his delight in finding "such a wealth of information" about the Healys in the Jones County Courthouse when he came to this area in 1950. "There was shelf upon shelf of records and documents," he said, noting that many were in Healy's own handwriting, showing that the Irishman from County Roscommon in 1823 acquired in a land lottery 1,300 acres of rich bottomland on the Okmulgee in the area now surrounded by the Piedmont Wildlife Preserve. Other reports and inventories Healy filed enabled Father Foley to reconstitute an exact picture of life on the Healy place.

An elderly storekeeper in the area helped him find the ruins of the plantation, and finally the unmarked graves positively identified by several elderly, longtime residents of the area.

The large log home in which the Healys lived was handsomely furnished, Father Foley determined, and the Irishman owned more than 100 books, taught his children to play the flute and the fiddle and instructed them in their school work.

Later, he sent his sons North to Quaker schools, realizing under Georgia law, they would assume slave status since he could not emancipate his wife. But Healy made a will, assuring that his money would be transferred out of Georgia, then appointed a New York friend as guardian.

Two of his sons, Hugh and Eugene, died and the tenth child, also named Eugene, is believed to have been buried beside Michael and Eliza Healy, both of whom died in 1850.

James, Patrick and Michael Healy were sent to Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., and Martha, the eldest daughter, entered a religious order but later withdrew to live in the family home in Massachusetts purchased with funds from her father's estate. Her other sisters, however, Amanda and Eliza, dedicated their lives to the Church with Eliza making notable contributions as an educator in Canada and the United States.

With the exception of Michael Healy, who left school to become a sea captain of some little fame, the Healy boys continued their study abroad in Paris, Rome, Belgium.

After ordination to the priesthood, each became well-known for his work -- James Augustine as a crusader for the rights of the poor, and later as Bishop of Portland, Maine, adding 60 churches to his diocese, 68 mission stations, 18 schools, convents and welfare institutions.

Father Patrick Healy became a teacher at Georgetown University, then was named dean, later vice-president, and finally president. Under his leadership, a seven-story administration, classroom, and residential building was constructed, named in his honor, and sweeping changes were made in the curriculum.

Father Sherwood Healy became famous for his work as rector of Boston Cathedral, using his musical talent to form the Boston Choral Union which helped raise funds for a new cathedral.