The Sisters of St. Mary's Orphanage

A monument in Galveston's Cavalry Cemetery memorializes the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. The first listed is Sister Mary Blandine Mathlin, named as a foundress of the order. With Sister Joseph Roussin and Sister Mary Ange Escude', she volunteered for a new mission in Galveston. They had been invited by the French-born bishop of Galveston, Claude Marie Dubuis, and came from Lyon in 1866.

The Bishop supported the construction of a charity hospital, St. Mary's, and the sisters began nursing in the community. It was an outbreak of yellow fever that took Sister Blandine in 1867. Many children were orphaned by the epidemic, and were taken in by the sisters. An orphanage grew by necessity and was later moved to the west, outside of the City where the sea breezes blew, as a buffer against future epidemics.

A group of ten sisters are listed on the cemetery monument as 1900 storm victims:



















Sister Mary Catherine Hebert 1855-1900
Elizabeth Ryan 1865-1900
Camillus Treacy 1865-1900
Evangelist Sullivan 1865-1900
Raphael Elliott 1873-1900
Genevieve Devalos 1820-1900
Felicitas Rosener 1866-1900
Benignus Doran 1877-1900
Finbar Creedon 1879-1900
Vincent Cottier 1853-1900


The hurricane of September 8th is still called the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. Sea level rose over 15 feet, and as buildings were dislodged from their foundations, became battering rams for those still standing. The dormitories of the orphanage collapsed.

History tells us that the sisters died protecting the children in their care, the orphans of St. Mary's orphanage. Each secured a group of children to her waist with clothesline, and all perished. Only three of the over 90 children in residence were found alive later, washed into the branches of a tree.

The 1900 census was taken just a few weeks before the hurricane, on June 27. Eight of the ten nuns listed above were enumerated at the orphanage on that day. The census tells us that Sister Vincent had come from France. Sister Catherine was French Canadian, as was Sister Genevieve. They listed their occupation as "needlework." Sister Elizabeth Ryan and Sister Evangelist Sullivan were as Irish as their names, both teachers, as were Sister Finbar and Sister Raphael. Sister Benignus was the cook for the home. There were also two servants listed.

There were 78 children meticulously enumerated, with real or estimated birth dates for all. Most were Texas-born. They ranged from 3 to 17 years of age. There was a family of six children who were Bohemian, three Germans, three Scots, who must have been newly arrived. A few were from other states: Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

A Texas state historical marker keeps the story alive to beachgoers who may pause to read its words: 

Children orphaned by a yellow fever epidemic in 1867 were cared for temporarily in Galveston's St. Mary's Infirmary by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. In 1874, Galveston Bishop Claude Dubuis bought the 35-acre plantation and home of Farnifala and Laura Green located between this gulf front and Green's Bayou for use as a permanent orphanage. In early 1874, the sisters of St. Mary's Infirmary founded St. Mary's Orphan Asylum by housing 28 children here at the site of the Green's former residence. A two-story facility for orphan girls was built nearby in October 1874.

The girls' dormitory was all that remained of the orphanage after the storm of 1875. A new residence for boys was built by 1879. St. Mary's was caring for orphans from throughout Texas at the time it was granted a Texas charter in 1896.

The catastrophic storm of 1900 completely destroyed the orphanage. Ten nuns and at least 90 children were tragically killed despite the nun's valiant efforts to save the children by securing them to their own bodies with clothesline. Three orphan boys rescued at sea were the only survivors. St. Mary's orphan Asylum reopened at 40th and Q Streets in Galveston City in 1901 and remained there until closing in 1967.