Name Change

Halcyon G. Bailey died on February 18, 1905. Emily Keeler died two years later on February 21, 1907. After her parents died, Annie Bailey legally changed her last name to her mother's birth name, Keeler. The petition has been scanned and transcribed. The original is on file with the Connecticut State Library.

The Stamford Daily Advocate ran an article on the name change, which gives insight into how Dr. Keeler presented herself and others saw her.

Danbury Doctor Changes Her Name. With a mannish stride and a masculine tinge to her garments, Dr. Annie K. Bailey of Danbury appeared before Judge Robinson in the Superior Court yesterday afternoon and asked permission to change her name to Annie K. Keeler. The doctor held a formidable-looking paper in her hand and she was ready for business. 

“Do you want me to tell you why I wish to change my name?” she inquired of the court.

Judge Robinson said he was willing.

“My father was a man addicted to excessive dissipation, to shocking immorality and profanity. He was a disgrace to the family.”

“What has this to do with changing: your name?” inquired the court.

Dr. Bailey said she wanted to have nothing further to do with her father.! For her mother's sake she wished to give her gay old parent the frozen mitt.

“Do you think it would affect your practice?” asked Judge Robinson.

The doctor said she didn't think it would.

“Then I see no objection to the name being changed,” declared the court.

So her shingle will now read Dr. Annie Keeler.
— Daily Advocate, Stamford, CT May 16, 1908

A shorter version of the story ran in papers as far away as Washington, DC and Oswego, New York:

DISOWN DISSOLUTE FATHER
Daughters Ask Court to Change Name and Free Mother's Honor
Danbury, Conn., May 17,—Dr. Annie K. Bailey, a practicing physician of many years' standing in Danbury, successfully petitioned Judge Robinson, in the Superior Court in Bridgeport, yesterday, to change her name to Keeler, her mother's name, giving as her reason that she wished to free the honor of her mother's family from the stain arising from the name of her father. Both her parents are dead.

“Father,” she said, “was a man addicted to excessive dissipation, shocking immorality, and profanity. He was a disgrace to the family.”

Dr. Bailey wears her hair short. Her mother got a divorce and took her maiden name thirty years ago.

Sources

• “Danbury Doctor Changes Her Name.” Daily Advocate [Stamford, Connecticut], 16 May 1908, p. 3.
• “Disown Dissolute Father.” The Washington Herald, May 1908, p. 3. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1908-05-18/ed-1/seq-3/. Accessed 30/11/2023.
• Fairfield Superior Court. Annie K. Bailey’s, of Danbury, Connecticut, Petition for Change of Name. May 15, 1908.