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)