>From the book The Irish in Philadelphia by Dennis Clark, published 1973 by Temple University: p.55 "The process of property acquisition often took a long time. John McDermott came to the city from County Clare in the 1840s. He first lived in South Philadelphia but, being a weaver, moved to the Kensington textile area, where he bought a house at 448 North Washington Street (now American Street) near Jefferson. The house looked out on the turbulent Nanny Goat Market that occupied the street before it. In a shed in the rear of the house, John McDermott set up his loom. He helped other Clare men, and they helped him. He prospered, purchased a metal-working business, and with the proceeds purchased two newer houses near the pleasant little square at Third and Diamond Streets..." A footnote to the above states: "John McDermott is listed in McElroy's Philadelphia Directory in 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852. His later moves are noted in family papers of John a. McDermott, staff member of Community Renewal Society, Chicago, Ill." posted by Sharon Carberry of the Carberrys working in a Philly cloth mill, 1870s