My great grandmother, Eliza(beth) McDermott, was born in Ireland (we don't know where) on April 8, 1830. According to a family tree drawn by her daughter Emilie Konvalinka Bennett (1866-1955), Eliza was the daughter of James McDermott and Margaret Moore (both born in Ireland about 1805) and had several brothers and sisters: James (m Sara ?), Eudora (m ? Moran), Brigid (m ? White), Mary Ann, Katherine (m Lewis Moore),and William.

We do not know when she came to the U.S., or with whom. [Glazier and Tepper: "The Famine Immigrants (1846-1851)" list several Eliza McDermotts of about the right vintage -- but nothing conclusive.]

In 1852 she married John Konvalinka (1822-1896), had five children, and lived her entire married life in New York City and Brooklyn. She died in 1911 and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery.

A few details about Eliza can be found on her grandson Caxton Brown's biography page.