Hi Kerri
Thank you for your query and posting this information. The reality of finding documentation pertaining to births/baptisms/marriages/deaths in Ireland prior to 1800 ? particularly in rural areas ? is that they simply may not exist. Some registers for urban areas pre-dating 1800 may exist ? though often these can be fragmented- as there was an increased need in cities or larger towns to document the population. Please also note that the Church of Ireland was the official church of the country and therefore the bulk of information that does survive for earlier periods is often from these registers.
I believe the Parish of St Marys/St Annes to be in Cork City in which case you may be in luck with finding records that predate 1800.
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/ Click Roman Catholic Parish Map-East Cork- Cork City Parishes- and you should find the records that are available for St Marys/Annes.
If you do not find what you are looking for in the Church Records you should look to emigration records.Generally, more information was given at the port of arrival rather than the port of departure. The University of Woolongong has produced, on microfiche, a complete index and transcript of all information concerning immigrants of Irish origin recorded on ships' passenger lists between 1848 and 1867. These are useful for finding out an exact place of origin as well as parents' names. The Public Record Office of Victoria has good online databases of settlers at www.prov.vic.gov.au Otherwise, other records may be found in the Colonial Office Papers of the UK National Archives, class reference CO 201. This class contains a wide variety of records, including petitions for assisted passages, emigrants' lists, records of emigrants on board ship, petitions from settlers for financial assistance and much more.http ://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/
Transportation from Ireland for crimes committed in Ireland, lasted from 1791 to 1853, ending 15 years earlier than transportation from England. The records of the Chief Secretary's Office, which had responsibility for the Penal system, are the major Irish source of information on transportees. Not all of the relevant records have survived, particularly for the period before 1836, but what does exist can provide a wealth of information.
Prisoners' Petitions and Cases, 1788-1836: these consist of petitions to the Lord Lieutenant for commutation or remission of sentence, and record the crime, trial, sentence, place of origin and family circumstances.
These records were microfilmed and a database was presented to the Australian government and can now be found in many State archives. The NAI retains copies and the database, in particular, can save a great deal of time and effort. www.nationalarchives.ie Early convict arrivals records, making up some of the gaps in the NAI material, are also online at www.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/convicts.htm (Irish Convicts to Australia 1791-1815).
Here are some other websites that may be of help to you:
http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/genealogy/traceyourcorkancestors/
http://genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/?gclid=CKLT_Pa4wrUCFYUf4Qod4EoAGg
We hope that this information is of help to you Kerri. Do not hesitate to contact us again.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support
