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Patrick McDermott (1854 - 1929)

Patrick McDermott was born on 16 July 1854 in Sydney, New South Wales. He was christened on 23 Jul 1854 at St James Cathedral, Cumberland Parish, Sydney, New South Wales. He was one of a number of children of Patrick McDermott and Bridget Kettle.

The family was living at Union Street in Sydney in 1854. There is limited information available on the family between 1854 and 1882 when Patrick is found in Tenterfield NSW.

It is in Tenterfield that he married Louisa Jane Davis on 4 March 1882. At the time he was working as a labourer. The marriage was performed by John Walford Simmons (or Simms) and witnessed by Francis Davis and James Stephens.

Louisa Jane Davis was the daughter of Thomas Davis and Jane Bygrave. According to adult christening certificates she was born in Toowoomba on 4 December 1865 (but no record has been found of her birth). Family oral history had identified Louisa is being part Maori, however we now know that her heritage was Jamaican.

After their marriage, it appears that the family lived at Barney Down where their first 5 children were born. It is most probably that Patrick worked as a labourer on the property.

In abt 1891 the family moved to Lismore, where their next two children were born, before moving to Richmond where their next child was born 1897.

The family had moved back to Lismore by 1899 where their next two children were born, before moving to Byron Bay around 1903 for the birth of their second last child. They moved back to Lismore again for the birth of their last child in 1905.

In total Patrick and Louisa had 12 children (6 sons and 6 daughters) between 1882 and 1905

  • John Patrick McDermott. Born 5 Aug 1882. Married Josephine F Morrish 1906 then Margaret M Molloy in 1907. Died aft 1901
  • Thomas Francis McDermott. Born 25 Dec 1883. Married Mary Ellen Johnson in 1918. Died 1961
  • William McDermott. Born 6 Aug 1885. Married Jessie Ford
  • Lydia Jane McDermott. Born 3 May 1888. Married Sydney Dawes in 1903
  • Walter McDermott. Born 7 Dec 1890.</li><li><strong>
  • Bertha Louisa McDermott. Born 15 Sep 1892. Married Leslie Selmes in 1914
  • Mabel Maud McDermott  Born 20 Aug 1894. Married Harold J Cusack in 1917
  • Emily Louisa McDermott. Born 25 Jan 1897. Married Sydney Walter Jessop in 1914. Died 17 Dec 1993
  • Arthur James McDermott. Born 24 Apr 1899. Married Esther H McGuiness in 1930
  • Annie McDermott</strong> . Born 1901. Married George L Thomson in 1920
  • Mary Josephine McDermott. Born 3 Mar 1903. Married Thomas Henry Saunders
  • Sydney Leo McDermott. Born 1905. Died 1930

Despite moving around frequently during the birth of their children, the family appear to have settled in the Lismore region after the birth of their youngest child.

Again, little detail is known about the family until Patrick's death on 20 July 1929 in Murwillumbah, NSW. However, there is an interesting note in Louisa Jane's bible, where in the front cover there is an additional record of the birth of two other children -

  • Eva Dorris Bender born 13 May 1909 and
  • David William Bender born 3 Sep 1912.

It is uncertain who's children these are, but they are recorded as Louisa's.

As such there is a possibility that Louisa and Patrick cease co-habitation some time before 1909, there is another possibility that the children are actually those of one of her daughters, and they were raised as Louisa and Patrick\'s children.

After Patrick's death, Louisa Jane moved to Brisbane, where she lived with her daughter Mary Josephine until her death on 30 Jul 1942. She is buried in Mt Gravatt Cemetary.

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