Seeking McDermott family of Gort County Galway

Dear Sister de Lourdes,

My great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Connelly) McDermott, and her mother, Margaret (maiden name unknown) Connelly (Mrs. Peter Connelly), are buried in a plot at St. Louis Catholic Cemetery in Louisville, Jefferson Co., Kentucky. Only Elizabeth has a tombstone. Family tradition states that Peter Connelly died aboard ship or shortly after arriving in America. Elizabeth’s stone has this as an inscription:  Elizabeth McDermott, 1840-1907.  

She first married Joseph Clarke in 1859 and then a Thomas McDermott (no known kinship to Michael McDermott who had a son named Thomas). Elizabeth’s husband died in Little Rock, Arkansas and is not buried in the St. Louis Cemetery plot with the others.

The cemetery plot was purchased by the Michael McDermott family. Michael and his wife, Ann (maiden name unknown) are buried in the plot but have no stone.  Three of their children are buried in the plot:

The inscriptions on the stones: all marked (children of Michael and Ann McDermott)

Catherine McDermott, born in Gort, Co Galway, (about 1842) died 22 August 1857

Thomas McDermott, born in Gort, Co. Galway, (born about 1844) died 4 June 1865

Bridget McDermott, born 18 Jan 1854 in Louisville, KY; died in 1861.

These three children had been buried in another cemetery and re-interred in 1871 in the St. Louis Catholic Cemetery.

In all my 25 years of research I have never been able to determine the relationship between Michael and Ann and the Connelly family. Perhaps Margaret (Mrs. Peter Connelly) was kin to Michael McDermott. Or perhaps Ann, Michael’s wife, was kin to the Connelly family. I do not know unless I can find some evidence of the women’s maiden names. They are most likely kin as they are all buried in the same family plot.

I have quite a few records for these families, but nothing gives me the maiden names of Margaret or Ann. No record of their arrival has been found on ship’s passenger lists. Obituaries found for some do not give maiden names or any information about place of birth other than Ireland. Only the tombstones for two of Michael’s children provide “Gort, Co. Galway.”

Elizabeth’s obituary states she came to America with her mother and father (Peter and Margaret Connelly) about 1850. Michael and Ann were in Louisville by 1850. A son, John P. McDermott, born 27 April 1847 in Ireland, was the last child listed as being born in Ireland. Records found for him do not provide place of birth other than “Ireland.”

Catholic church records found for them in Louisville do not provide maiden names or place of origin. No Naturalization papers exist. I have searched: tombstones, undertaker records, church records (baptism, marriage and burial), newspapers, naturalization records, ships’ passenger manifests, census, cemetery, and city directories.

The families left Ireland before Griffith’s Valuation was undertaken in the area of Gort. I am hoping there is some record of the children’s baptism or perhaps marriages for the parents. Do let me know if you have any suggestions for where else I might look.

I will attach tombstone photos and Family Group Sheets in another posting.

Thanking you in advance,

Deborah Campisano

dlcampisano@gmail.com