MRaycroft,
Your assumption that the Delargy family probably came from Co. Antrim seems pretty sound. I looked at the 1901 census of Ireland. There were 139 Delargys listed and all but 2 families lived in Co Antrim. They were mostly found along the north east coast so places like Ballycastle, Fair Head, Cushendall, Red Bay, Glenravel & Larne. All were RC.
MacLysaght’s “The Surnames of Ireland” says: This sept migrated from Mayo to Antrim where they had become well established before the mid seventeenth century. So the locations where they are to found in 1901 fit perfectly with that background.
The basic problem you face is that no parishes in the part of Co Antrim you are interested in have any records for 1801 – 1820 (or earlier). Most start in the 1820s, some later than that. You can use this link to access a map of all the RC parishes in Antrim. If you click on each one, it will show what records exist and where they are held. (Most are on-line free on the nli site, but there are a few where the records are in some other repository or still held by the priest. Glenariffe is an example. The priest still has the records. For Carnlough, PRONI has a copy of the earliest records. The nli site does not have them for some reason.). Glenravel’s records start in 1825, which is fairly typical.
https://www.johngrenham.com/places/rcmap_index.php#maps/
So I can pretty well guarantee that you are not going to find any baptisms for the McKeown or Delargy families, at least not for any events before the 1820s anyway.
According to MacLysaght, on MacKeown/McKeon, “No less than seventeen variants and synonyms of MacKeown have been officially recorded – among these are Magone, MacCune, MacEwen, MacGeown and also Caulfield all in Co. Down, and MacKone in Co. Monaghan, while both Johnson and by translation Johnstone erroneously have also been used. The MacKeons of the Glens of Antrim are mainly descendants of the Scottish Bissets.” (If I remember my history correctly, the Bissets held a lot of land in North East Ulster. Margaret Bissett married a MacDonnell/MacDonald from the Scottish island of Islay in the late 1300s, and from that came the MacDonnell estates in Antrim. At one time the Earl of Antrim ie the MacDonnell family owned a quarter of the county. The family is still there and now live in Glenarm Castle).
Many of the families in the Glens of Antrim (ie the area where the Delargy and MacKeown families apparently lived) are peopled by folk who came over from Scotland in the 1400s – 1600s, many at the encouragement of their MacDonnell landlord, and some just for commercial reasons. It’s only 8 miles across at the closest point so not a major journey and it was often noted that the Gaelic spoken in the Glens is identical to that spoken in SW Scotland (and significantly different to the Gaelic spoken elsewhere in Ireland). That’s because they originated in Scotland and went back and forth all the time too.
People in the 1800s tended to marry locally. Courting was generally done on foot so that limited your options a little. You often married the girl next door. So the McKeowns and Delargy households were probably in the same general area. Here’s a list of all the townlands where there were Delargy families farming around 1830 (taken from the tithe applotment records):
Delargey, John-Townland: Carnagall Year: 1832-Loughguile -Antrim
Delargy, Charles-Townland : Liginanagh Year: 1825-Dunaghy-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Bay Year: 1828-Ardclinis-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Creevagh/Dunnycalter Year: 1831 -Culfeightrin -Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Glassmullan Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Isbane Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Killmore Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Malnaskeiog Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Nariff Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Danl.-Townland: Tamlaght Year: 1828-Ardclinis-Antrim
Delargy, Hugh-Townland : Rosedermot Year: 1825-Dunaghy-Antrim
Delargy, J.-Townland: Cregbane Year: 1831 -Culfeightrin -Antrim
Delargy, James-Townland : Liginanagh Year: 1825-Dunaghy-Antrim
Delargy, Jas.-Townland: Cregbane Year: 1831 -Culfeightrin -Antrim
Delargy, Jas.-Townland: Glenan and Ishrey Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, John-Townland: Glassmullan Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, John-Townland: Munivert Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Michl.-Townland: Ballymadoc Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Michl.-Townland: Clonreagh Year: 1828-Ardclinis-Antrim
Delargy, Michl.-Townland: Islandbreckey Year: 1825-Skerry-Antrim
Delargy, Neal-Townland: Nariff Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, P.-Townland: Islandbreckey Year: 1825-Skerry-Antrim
Delargy, Thos.-Townland: Corelain Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
Delargy, Thos.-Townland: Nariff Year: 1826-Layd-Antrim
McKeown is unfortunately very common. I think there were about 1000 farming in Northern Ireland in the 1830s and I don’t really have the time to compile a list but you can study the relevant parishes on this site. All the McKeowns are listed there:
http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/antrim/tithe-applotments/culfeightrin-parish.php
(The tithes are a list of people with land ie mainly farmers. Labourers and others without land are not included but there are so few comprehensive records to search in Ireland in the early 1800s, you have to make do with what there is).
Elwyn
