David O'Keefe/Keefe
I am trying to locate my grandfathers parents and may have been barking up the wrong tree. My Grandfathers nane was David Blackwell. He was supposedly born in Richmond Vermont on Jan 8th 1886 or 1887 but there is no birth record so I contacted the Catolic Church in Richmond Vermont as I knew my grandfather was baptised.The pastor sent me a copy of a record found in their register. Following is the exact text of the baptismal record.
" On the 29th day of January in the year of our Lord 1886, I the undersigned priest baptized a baby born on the 8th day of the same month of David o Keefe and Margaretta (Margaret) Blackwell in Jericho, Vt. The name David was given to him. The sponsor was Johanna Casey."Andrew J. Barron (Pastor)
It appears that David and Margaretta were not married and Jericho is right next to Richmond. This may be my grandfathers baptismal record but it went in a completely different direction than I was persueing. Can anyone shed some light on this or verify this for me? If a couple was unmarried was it common for the child to take the mothers maiden name? Thank you for any help.
Gaynor