Annie Keeler
Annie Keeler was an American physician in Danbury, Connecticut. She was an early woman physician at the turn of the 19th century, and 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. She graduated from the Normal School as part of the class of 1876 and taught in Ridgebury 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.