Beasley, Mathilda, Mother, 1832-1903

<p>Sr Mathilda Taylor Beasley; BIRTH 14 Nov 1832, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA; DEATH, 20 Dec 1903 (aged 71), Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA;
BURIAL: Catholic Cemetery, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA
PLOT: Magnolia Section, Lot 31</p>

<p>FUNERAL OF MOTHER BEASLEY; Woman Who Died Clasping Figure of Virgin Buried, Savannah, Ga., December 21.—(Special.)
The funeral of Mother Matilda Beasley, the aged French-Indian woman who, as told in the Constitution today, died yesterday morning, with her arms clasped about the image of the Virgin Mary, before which she had crawled in her private chapel to die, took place this morning at 9:30 o'clock from the Sacred Heart church.</p>
<p>Father Gregory, of St. Benedict church, said mass. After the mass Father Aloysius, of the Sacred Heart church, spoke briefly of the life of Mother Beasley. He paid a high tribute to her pious life and charitable work. The pallbearers selected from the Mutual Aid Society of St. Benedict church, by request of Mother Beasley, were W. E. Bullock, T. S. Mitchell, C. F. Derara, Joseph King, William Desverges and James Dowes. The interment was in the cathedral cemetery.</p>

Mother Mathilda Taylor Beasley, OSF (November 14, 1832 - December 20, 1903) was the first African American nun to serve in the state of Georgia. She founded a group of African-American nuns and one of the first U.S. orphanages for African-American girls.

In 2004, she was posthumously named a Georgia Woman of Achievement; She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 14, 1832.[1] She was baptized as a Catholic in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy free black restaurant owner in Savannah, who died in 1877.

With Catherine and Jane Deveaux, Beasley educated slaves in her home in Savannah, Georgia before the Civil War although this was illegal at the time.[2]

Later in life, after becoming a Franciscan nun in England, Beasley returned to the United States and founded a group of African-American sisters in Georgia, called the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.[3] Beasley attempted to affiliate her group with the Franciscan Order but was ultimately unsuccessful.[4]

She also started one of the first orphanages in the United States for African-American girls,[3] the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.[5]

She died on December 20, 1903.

Mathilda Taylor Beasley was named a Georgia Woman of Achievement in 2004 by Georgia Women of Achievement, a private, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Atlanta. The ceremony was held at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia on March 11, 2004. In 2005, the Georgia Historical Society named “Mother” Mathilda Beasley its Georgia Heritage Celebration Honoree ...

Mother Mathilda Beasley (née Taylor) was the first African American Roman Catholic nun in Georgia. Much of Beasley’s life—including the circumstances that led to her freedom, her move from her birthplace in New Orleans, Louisiana to Savannah, and her conversion to Roman Catholicism—remain a mystery. What is known, however, is her birth year (1832) and her lifelong commitment to the care and education of black children of Savannah.

Born to an enslaved mother in New Orleans and probably orphaned at a young age, Beasley made her way to Savannah and joined the small community of free people of color in the booming port city sometime in the early 1850s. Before the Civil War, Beasley supported herself through work as a seamstress and waitress. Throughout the 1850s, Beasley also ran a secret school for enslaved and free black children, in contravention of Georgia law which prohibited the education of people of color.

In 1869, Beasley was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Savannah. While it is not known what led to her decision to convert, there is some speculation that Abraham Beasley, her future husband and the owner of the restaurant at which she worked, was Catholic. Mathilda may therefore have accepted baptism in the Catholic Church as part of the preparations for her marriage, which followed less than a month after her baptism.

Abraham and Mathilda did not have any children of their own together, though Abraham had a son from a previous marriage. When Abraham, a moderately wealthy African American man, died in 1877, he bequeathed his considerable assets, including cash savings, businesses, and land, to Mathilda who in turn donated the whole of the Beasley estate to the Roman Catholic Church. There is some speculation that her decision to donate his wealth was an attempt to atone for her deceased husband’s role in the Savannah slave trade, from which he had derived a portion of his wealth.

Beasley travelled to York, England in 1885 and there entered the Franciscan monastic order. Returning to Savannah in 1887, Beasley opened an orphanage she named St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans. Beasley founded the first community of African American nuns in Georgia in 1889. These nuns followed the rule of the Franciscan order, though they were never able to officially affiliate with the Order of St. Francis. The small group of nuns also staffed the orphanage. Beasley continued to work as a seamstress as well, donating the money she earned to the poor of Savannah.

Mother Mathilda Beasley passed away while in prayer in her chapel on December 20, 1903 in Savannah at the age of 71.