Agnews in Larne area

[Noelle Weigel nee Brown]

Hi! I am an Agnew descendant in the USA. I am working hard to find my GGGG Grandfather, Patrick Agnew, who immigrated from Ireland in the early 1800s. He is listed as being born in Larne, Co Antrim, in 1815. He was a staunch Catholic, so I assume his family was Catholics.

I have had a lot of trouble finding him...
One possible story is that he is one of the illegitimate children of Edward Jones Agnew of Kilwaghter Estate with Eleanor Gailbraith (their oldest 2 children, William & Maria were legitimized to inherit). The Peerage list states that at the time of legitimation of William, Eleanor and the rest of the children were sent to America. William, the older brother was born in 1812, my Patrick was born in 1815. JUST A THEORY!

I would really appreciate any insight anyone might have. As far as the records online can show (most of the uploaded record for Ireland are the Protestant records) Patrick never existed until he pops up in America as an adult - the first record I have is a marriage with Bridget McIver in America.
Many thanks!

[aghadowey]

As far as the records online can show (most of the uploaded record for Ireland are the Protestant records) Patrick never existed until he pops up in America as an adult - the first record I have is a marriage with Bridget McIver in America.

Actually that's not quite accurate. Many R.C. Irish parish registers, far more than any other denominations I would say, are online (free)-
https://registers.nli.ie/

The bigger problem is that the dates you are looking for is too early for many Irish records.
https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0389 (baptisms start 1869)
A pay site does have earlier baptisms but only from 1860- https://www.johngrenham.com/records/rc_church.php?churchid=0389&parish=Ballyclare

https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/1142 (baptisms from 1821)

[Timetraveller77]

My ancestor is Samuel AGNEW (born abt 1798 Kilwaughter, Antrim)

 He married Margaret HUNTER circa 1828 (born abt 1791 Carncastle, Antrim)
Issue:  Jane AGNEW born 1822 Antrim   m. Samuel Montgomery  (born 1819 Larne) 1842 Larne, Antrim (my direct ancestors)
          William AGNEW born 1829 Larne, Antrim
          Joseph AGNEW  born 1833 Larne, Antrim
          Margaret AGNEW  born 1837 Larne, Antrim

The 1851 Antrim census for Samuel:
Old Town Street, Larne, Antrim
Samuel Agnew age 53 b. Kilwaughter ;Head ; Occ: Labourer ; Married (1828);  can read & write
Margaret Agnew age 60 b. Carncastle ; wife; 
William Agnew  age 22 b. Larne ; Son ; Occ: Sailor ; Unmarried
Joseph Agnew  age 18 b. Larne ; son ; Occ: Sawyer ; unmarried
Margaret Agnew  age 14  b. Larne; dau ; unmarried
Margaret Ramsay  age 6  b. Larne ; "dau"     [unverified as biological daughter or granddau]
Margaret Hunter  age 23  b. Carncastle ; Lodger ; unmarried; Occ: Dressmaker


Married dau Jane Montgomery in 1851
Blacks Lane, Larne, Antrim
Saml Montgomery age 32  b. Antrim  Head ; married 1842 ; Occ: Sawyer  ; can read & write
Jane Montgomery  age 29  b. Antrim ; wife ; occ: at Ms Slury School ; can read & write
Margaret Montgomery  age 8 b. Antrim ; dau ; in school (at Ms Huston school); can read & write
Mary Montgomery  age 7 b. Antrim ; dau ; in school (at Ms Huston school) ; can read & write
Samuel Montgomery  age 5  b. Antrim ; son ; in school (at Ms Huston school) ; can read & write
James Montgomery  age 4 b. Antrim ; son ; in school (at Ms Huston) ; can read
Anne [Jane] Montgomery  age 1 b. Antrim ; dau ; no occ
Ezekel [Cahill] Montgomery  age 1mth b. Antrim

  NB this family moved to Glasgow, Scotland abt 1852. Jane died 2 Feb 1861 Garscadden Street, Glasgow. Her death cert states her father Samuel is deceased, but the mother Margaret is not.

The two eldest daughters, Margaret and Mary Montgomery migrated to Dunedin, New Zealand in 1863 (family notes say to avoid being married off to old men by their father)

I am a descendant of Mary Montgomery. She married Andrew MILLER 1866 Dunedin, New Zealand.

I have gaps in the LARNE family, so am interested if anyone knows who Samuel Agnew is connected to, and/or any other information relating to this family.

Many thanks,

[Gilby]

I can't help with the above query, but I just wanted to point out that there have been some very interesting articles (and a bit of a debate) about the Agnew family recently:

The Agnews of Kilwaughter in Familia Number 32, 2016.
The Agnews of Kilwaughter in Familia Number 38, 2022.
The Agnews of Kilwaughter in Familia Number 39, 2023.

[Timetraveller77]

Thank you Gilby. Sorry for the tardy appreciative reply... Just starting to dig into this part of my tree again...It looks like an interesting read. I might have to download the articles, and see if my ancestor has the lofty connections to the castle  Cheers