McDERMOTT-ROE FAMILY, NEWFOUNDLAND AND IRELAND

I have been indulging my fondness for digging through old scrapbooks again and I have come across this short announcement published in a local newspaper in 1914.  There is a connection to St Patrick’s Parish so I thought those of you who are interested in its history would enjoy this little snippet.

IN 1914, A "COLONY"

Monsignor James J McDermott was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, in 1872.  Ordained in Ireland in 1895, the young priest came to Newfoundland that same year. 

Msgr J J McDermott

When this announcement of the death of his aunt, Mrs Dillon, appeared in the newspaper in 1914, Msgr McDermott was Parish Priest of St Patrick’s in the West End of St John’s, or as it was then known, ‘Riverhead’, St John’s.  Msgr McDermott had been made Pastor of St Patrick’s in 1909 and he served the Parish until his appointment as Vicar General of the Archdiocese in 1915.  Having spent most of his priestly life labouring in various parishes in Newfoundland, Monsignor James J McDermott died at St Clare’s Mercy Hospital, St John’s in April 1947.