Sorry to resurrect this thread from all those years ago, but at long last, I know all about my grandfather Thomas Keegan/McDermott after contacting a relative of my dad's, a very old lady, but she knew the whole story!
Yes, he was illegitimate, son of Bridget Keegan. His father was Thomas Joseph McDermott, manager of the Bush Hotel and Bridget was a chambermaid! (We thought there was a conection, didn't we Kiterunner?) The man "accepted responisiblity", attended the baptism and as was traditon then, my Thomas adopted his father's name, McDermott. Of course the difference in his and Bridget's social circumstances meant there would be no marriage!
I have now gained great uncles and aunts and great great grandparents having traced the family back to the 1700s.
The moral is, never give up!
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