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 Hardgraves. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but on various certificates she is noted as having been born in Toowoomba in abt 1862. Louisa is noted as being part Maori. It is known that she had at least two siblings Francis and William.

The family continued to live in Tenterfield, most likely at Barney Down where their first 5 children were born. 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

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.