15. John McKeown

John McKeown

John Mc Keown was the third child and second son of Michael Mc Keown and Rose Rourke of Castletowncooley. He was baptised on Thursday the 6th of June 1833 in the parish of Carlingford South, presumably in the Church of St James at Grange, which is the parish church and dates from around 1760. John’s family had lived in the area for over a century before the time of his birth. A family headstone in Newtown Cemetery, Mountbagnall, was erected by a Michael Mc Keown in memory of his mother Mary Hanlon (1714-1785) and his father John (17111794). This couple may well have been John’s great-great-grandparents, though it has not been possible to trace the line back to them.

John’s father Michael is listed in Griffith’s Valuation (1854) as the occupier of a house and lands in Castletowncooley which are still owned by the Mc Keown family today. Rose took over the lease on the lands when her husband Michael died and was succeeded in turn by her eldest son Patrick when she died in 1874.

When John married in 1867 his occupation was recorded as farmer. It

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is not clear what land he was farming in 1867, perhaps he was working on the home farm with his mother and brothers. Along with Patrick, his younger brother Michael also lived on this land until his death in 1905. Both of his two brothers died bachelors, never having married. The farm consisted of around 35 acres of mediocre land and a share in some rough mountain land. It is difficult to look back and see how even a subsistence existence could have been scraped from these poor acres.

Between 1867 and 1882 John had several addresses: Cooley (Feb 1867), Castletowncooley (Sep 1867), Muchgrange (1869 to 1872) and Mulatee (1874 to 1882). Muchgrange and Mulatee are neighbouring townlands about 5 miles from Castletowncooley and close to Greenore. The house in Mulatee, which is still in use today, is close to the line of the Dundalk to Greenore section of the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway.

The railway started operations in 1873 but was involved in construction and land purchase for several years before that. We know that John started working for the DN&GR around 1872. From late 1867 John’s occupation was recorded as labourer so perhaps he was working on the construction of the port and/or the railway from around that time. As the railway was owned by an English company, the London and North Western Railway, it paid the going English rates of pay so it would have provided a good and steady wage for John, Catherine and their children.

John was 49 years of age and had been working for the DN&GR for about ten years when he died.

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