Garvey, M. [Maurice] J.

Submitted by Mike Miller

M. J. Garvey, of the firm of M. E. Garvey & Co., is now the active business man of the firm and is very extensively engaged in the refining of sugar. This particular branch of New Orleans' trade forms an important item in the enormous sum total of the city's business, and Mr. Garvey is practically the bead of the firm of which he is a member. He was born in the city of New Orleans April 14, l865, to M. E. and Margaret Ann (Lynch) Garvey, who were born in New Orleans, the date of the former's birth being January 1, 1843. The father was reared in the city of his birth, there, also obtained his education, after which he became a clerk with the sugar and molasses firm of Beebe & Denegre, remaining with them until they retired from business. He and Robert Carey then formed the commission firm of Robert Carey & Co., soon after the war. This firm became one of the best known throughout the South, and the sugar manufactured in their name was sufficient guarantee that it was a first-class article. They did an enormous business and made a large amount of money, but close application to business caused Mr. Carey's health to fail a few years since, and he retired from active business.

To Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Garvey a family of twelve children were born, ten of whom are alive: Cecelia, wife of William Rice, of Rice, Boon Hardware company, of New Orleans; Mary; M. J., the subject of this sketch; Margaret; Olivia; Andrew, who died when young; Robert; Viola; ; Willie; Johanna and Joseph. The mother of this large family was reared and educated in New Orleans, and died in 1888, at the age of forty-four years. M. J. Garvey is the eldest son in this family, and his early education was obtained in Jesuit college, of New Orleans, after which he entered Tulane university of the same place. It may be said that he was reared to the "sugar and molasses business," and in 1890 he established the firm of M. E. Garvey & Co., of which he is the efficient business head. His father is his adviser in all matters of importance, and although practically retired and living at ease on the means which he formerly accumulated, he keeps well posted in the sugar business, and finds his former business experience very useful in aiding his son. The house of which M. J. Garvey is a member, is one of the best sugar and molasses refining houses of the city, and they annually ship large consignments to all parts of the United States. The Garveys hold a high position among the Catholic families of the city.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), p. 438. Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.