Starting with the Keegan connection.
Bridget Keegan married Patrick Delaney in Boyle, Roscommon in 1893. As she is barely 21 when she marries, it is unlikely she was married before, plus she is “spinster” on marriage reg. She names her father as William Keegan. As she is “stepdaughter” to William Gallagher; the head of household, then his wife, Margaret, must have been married before, presumably to a Keegan.
On census, Bridget names her birthplace as Sligo, (1873) but there is no birth there for her, nor any Keegans with a mother called Margaret.
I found a birth for a Bridget Keegan in Boyle, Roscommon in 1873, but to a Thomas Keegan, mother Mary, not Margaret, but maiden name McDermott ..........!
Alternatively, this was William Gallagher’s 3rd marriage – having previously been married to a woman before Margaret, who was previously married to a Keegan, or whose maiden name was Keegan and she had Bridget out of wedlock. Bit convoluted!
Where does Thomas McDermott fit into all this? Where does the name McDermott even come from? If Bridget Keegan/Delaney has no connection with him, why has he put her address on his army from as next of kin?
I can't think straight any more and I've no idea where to go from here. This is my name and so is awfully close to home! I'm starting to have doubts about my own identity here!
