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Daniel J. McDermott, locomotive engineer on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain 

& Southern Railroad, whose division extends from De Soto to Piedmont, is 

a resident of the former place.  He is a son of Augustine and Frances 

(Sauffer) McDermott, and was born in Huntingdon County, Penn., in 1840.  

Augustine McDermott, who is of Irish descent, was also born in Huntingdon 

County, Penn., in 1819, but for the past twenty-two years has been a 

resident of Piedmont, W. Va., where he is an influential citizen.  He 

served two years as mayor of the town, and is at present justice of the 

peace.  He served as an engineer on the Old State Railroad twenty years 

and fourteen years on the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad. Mrs. Frances 

McDermott is of German descent, and was born in Huntingdon County, Penn., 

in 1821.  Daniel J. McDermott was the eldest in a family of nine children, 

and was educated at Mount Savage, Md. When thirteen years of age he commenced 

working in a brickyard for 37 1/2 cents per day.  He worked in that capacity 

for five years, receiving for his later services $1.25 per day.  He worked six 

months at the mechanics trade, and for the following two years had charge of a
stationary engine in sinking a coal shaft.  In 1862 he went to Piedmont, W. Va., 

and was employed as a fireman on a locomotive engine on the Baltimore & Ohio 

Railroad, which position he held for two and one-half years, and the following 

six years was employed as an engineer on the same road.  In 1871 he became an 

engineer on the Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad, where he remained nine years.  

In 1880 he came to De Soto and secured his present position as engineer on the 

St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad. December 21, 1865, he married Miss
Mary McCormic, of near Harrisburg, Penn., born in 1846.  To Mr. and Mrs. McDermott 

six children have been born: Frances, William, Martin, May, Joseph, Daniel J., Jr.  

Mr. McDermott is a member of the A.O.U.W. and the Brotherhood of Locomotive 

Engineers.  With his wife, he is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.