Hi,
Thank you very much for your message.
Yes unfortunately, it is very difficult to know where to search without the name of the parish as most church records are still held locally.
However you could try searching for Michael on the Irish Genealogy website where they have begun to upload Irish church records free of charge. Only some parts of Cork have been uploaded so far, but hopefully you will be lucky and find something relevant to you:
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/
You could also try searching the following but please note these websites do not have complete collections:
www.familysearch.org has a huge database of genealogical records including some church records for Ireland.
www.rootsireland.ie have a large collection of Irish Church records, however you have to pay to use this site.
You could also try contacting the Skibbereen Heritage Centre for some assistance, however a fee may apply. Here is their email: skibbheritage1@gmail.com
Otherwise you will have to write to the local parish priest for possible assistance as, like I mentioned earlier, most church records are still held at a local level.
Have you tried looking into the family?s emigration? Sometimes more information was given at the port of arrival rather than that of departure so you may find information on place of origin here. Check the US National Archives for more information:
http://www.archives.gov/research/immigration/
Have you heard of the Tithe Applotment Books? These are a set of land records compiled between 1823 and 1837 in order to determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. They do not give any genealogical information but can sometimes be used to tie a person to a specific place. I did a search for Dukelow and here are the results that came back:
http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?surname=Dukelow&firstname=&county=Cork&parish=&townland=&search=Search
I also did a search on the later Griffith?s Valuation (1848-1864) and here are the results that came back:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=Dukelow&firstname=&offset=0&countyname=CORK&parishname=&parishname&unionname=&baronyname=&totalrows=30&PlaceID=0&wildcard=
There is a Peter mentioned in both, and although there is no way of knowing for sure if they are related to Michael you can take the parishes as a starting point for your research if all else fails. However, I would search the IRish Genealogy website first and hopefully you will get lucky as records for Schull and Skibbereen have been uploaded there.
Some other websites that you may find useful are:
The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
Irish TImes: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/counties/rcmaps/corkswrc.htm
Genealogy Links: http://www.genealogylinks.net/uk/ireland/cork/index.html
Failte Romhat: www.failteromhat.com
I hope some of this is helpful.
Kind regards,
Genealogy Support