Hello,
I have search all my databases and haven't found any McKey, McKay.. ect. in my Catholic or Church of Ireland vital records. And, as I have stated many times, any time before the 1850s is very early for the registers.And you have the unfortunate timing of being near the famine which of course, decimate the Irish population.
I would suggest you keep a VERY open mind while doing Irish research as far as names and its spellings (dates as well!). Prior to 1900 many names were spelled how the person writing the info down heard it. McKey could be spelled a variety of ways-with or without the Mc or Mac in front, Kay, Key Cay Cey? Imagine yourself hearing the name with a brogue your unfamiliar with. Many people back then couldn't read or write so they couldn't spell it either. You can imagine how messed up records got! As far as dates go, the general population had no need to know birth dates until the Old Age pensions came about. Everything was a guess- dates in the census could vary wildly from decade to decade. Also, the year of birth may need to be 'adjusted' so that they could marry, or join the army.or any other reason. Dates and name spelling are not concrete!
I DID find info on Mackie Macky (can you see how McKey might SOUND like Macky?) but only in COI records:
1804 Confirm Michael Mackin
1817 Confirm Edward and Robert Mackin
May 7 1819 Burial of Edward Mackin, 27y of Knocklegela
1807 Feb 8 Marriage Peter Macky and Mary Peters
I also found this:
Jan 1847 Mary, born to Thomas Macky?? and Eliza Lally, of Crossmolina Town.
(I couldn't read the surname clearly unfortunately).
The records for Church of Ireland covered several parishes but I only copied what was readily available for Crossmolina as I don't have COI ancestors. This was obtained from LDS film # 897365 should you wish to pursue that avenue.
As I mentioned, if you know your family was Catholic, the early records were very poor. See my intro for further explanation of this.
I also looked into the Tithe Applotment and didn't find any McKey Mackie Macky...
All in all, an unsatisfying few hours! Maybe you could check in with North Mayo and ask them for info-they have all cemetery records as well as births. They can also give suggestions for further research.
http://www.northmayogenealogy.com/I also wonder if the MaKey name originated from another name. I was doing research for a fellow that was looking for the name TWIGG. I found nothing at all even though he was positive they came from Crossmolina. I later found out that the TWIG name came from TOUGHY.... whodaguessed THAT name spelling!? Suddenly I found several records for him. Just saying that is a distinct possiblity since we know they came from Crossmolina and are not finding anything significant.
I also checked the Flax done in 1798 and found no Macky or MacKeys ect. Now the Tithe and Flax does not list EVERONE in the parish, only those participation in the progroms.
Good luck!
Diski