McGarry was born on January 20, 1842, in
Loughgiel,
County Antrim, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1865 settling at first in
Cleveland, Ohio, where, with a cousin, he "engaged in the fuel business." (or Annie) and Patrick J. McGarry died on July 4, 1903, in his
Santa Monica, California, summer home. He had been suffering from an
affection of the heart. It was noted that McGarry's death came just "a few hours" after he had read of the impending death of his "intimate friend and associate," fellow civic leader John F. Francis. The newspaper reported that: when the funeral approached the Sisters' Orphanage on
Boyle Heights[, the] bell was tolled and the girls stood with bowed heads and clasped hands, at the roadside, as the funeral passed by. This school had been a special object of charity at the hands of the deceased. ==Vocation==