Annie Keeler

Annie Keeler (November6, 1855 – March6, 1927) was an American physician in Danbury, Connecticut at the turn of the 19th century. She was a prolific writer on the topics of medicine, Christianity, and temperance.

Biography
Keeler was born on November 6, 1855, in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were Halcyon Gilbert Bailey and Emily Keeler Bailey. Her parents moved to Ridgebury, Connecticut in 1862, when she was about 7. Her 5-year old brother Clayton died shortly after, in 1863. Her parents divorced in 1872 and Keeler remained with her mother and her mother's family.

Education
Keeler went to college at the Connecticut State Normal School (now Central Connecticut State University). She graduated from the Normal School as part of the class of 1876 and taught in Ridgebury, CT for a few years. In 1885 at age 30, Annie Keeler graduated from the Woman's Medical College of the New York Infirmary.

Career
She practiced medicine for "nearly one year" at the New York Infirmary, then moved back to Western Connecticut in 1886. She set up a practice in Danbury, CT. She was one of the first three women physicians in that city. She taught at the Danbury Hospital Training School for Nurses for 11 years and, in 1892, was instrumental in the formation of the Danbury Graduate Nurses' association. Meetings were held in her home for years, until regular meeting rooms were obtained.

In 1901, she predicted the end of the world based on an astronomical confluence.

Name change
In 1908, after both her parents had died, Keeler petitioned the Superior Court for a name change. At the time, she was known as "Annie Keeler Bailey" and she wished to drop her father's name to (as the newspapers put it) "free the honor of her mother's family from the taint arising from the name of her father". She said "Father was a man addicted to excessive dissipation, shocking immorality, and profanity. He was a disgrace to the family." Her petition was granted.

Death
In 1927, Keeler was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street at a crosswalk, a block from her home. She died of her injuries shortly afterward.