The Ancestors of Anna Mariah McDermott Georges

My second great grandmother, Anna Mariah McDermott Georges, is on the far right. Her daughter Rosalia is second from the left. The man in the hat is Rosalia’s husband, Marshal Faulkenberg. The man on the far left is my grandpa Henry Faulkenberg.

100% Irish

My great grandma Rosalia Georges Faulkenberg appears to get her first name from her paternal grandmother, but I assume her middle initial (A) stands for Anna, which is not only her  mother’s name, but her maternal grandmother’s as well. Truth be told, not too much is known about the ancestry of these Annas, but I’ll tell you everything I can.

The younger Anna, Rosalia’s mother, is 100% Irish by blood. Her parents were definitely Patrick W. McDermott and Anna Maria O’Callahan, both of whom were born in Ireland in the 1820’s. Looking at other genealogy sites, it appears these two were already married before migrating to America in about 1849 - apparently arriving in Maryland before moving on to Pennsylvania and Ohio, where Anna was born in Cincinnati in 1861. Then sometime before Anna turned five, the family moved to Perry County, Indiana.

Cincinnati in 1865, four years after Anna McDermott was born there

Anna Maria O’Callahan’s death certificate doesn’t give her parents’ names, but it says she was born in Ireland on September 10, 1828. Searching the internet for old baptism records, I was able to find one from Cork, Ireland of a girl whose name was recorded as “Anne Calahan”, the date of which is September 17, 1828. In the Catholic church, many babies are baptized about a week or so after birth. And actually, the record lists the child’s age as “0”. Plus, we have other ancestors from Cork, Ireland whose family ended up in Perry County, Indiana. All things considered, this appears to be our Anna O’Callahan. According to the baptism record, her parents’ names were Pat Calahan and Cath Mahony. I don’t know if these are nicknames for Patrick and Catherine or just record keeping by shorthand.

Looking into Patrick McDermott’s ancestry, there were at least four baby boys with his first and last name who were baptized in Ireland in 1820, all in the Dublin area. And although these baptism records give the names of the babies’ parents, there doesn’t appear to be a way to tell which one (or if any of them) was our ancestor.

None of the records give a middle name or initial for the baby. So, my next strategy was going to be to eliminate some of these Patrick McDermotts by finding their death certificates in Ireland instead of Indiana. But when I started looking for death certificates, I came across even more Patrick McDermotts who were born in Ireland in 1820. I was able to find our Patrick McDermott’s death certificate from Indiana, but both of his parents’ names were left blank.

The only other things I could tell you about Patrick are that his obituary said he was about five feet tall, and although his wife is buried at Holy Cross Catholic Church in St. Croix, Indiana, Patrick is said to be buried down the road at his old farm.

Anna McDermott Georges is the woman on the porch here in Perry County, Indiana. Her grandson’s wife, Ida Mae LaGrange Faulkenberg, is on the left.