Genealogical Research in Florida

Europeans, especially the French and Spanish began colonization of Florida at the beginning of the 16th century. The first permanent settlement was established at what is modern day St. Augustine in 1565. The French and Spanish battled back and forth for control of the area until the early 17th century when England set its sights on the area. The battles for control of Florida were bloody and vicious until the British finally gained control of the region in 1763 by giving up possession of Havana, Cuba.

British rule lasted a mere 20 years however, the Spanish winning control of Pensacola in 1781 during the War for Independence. The Spanish were awarded the entire area as part of the peace treaty that ended the American \revolutionary War. The Spanish attracted settlers to the area through land grants, and many Spanish, new Americans from the north, and escaped slaves flocked to the area. Spain finally ceded the region to the United States after several U.S. military expeditions to the area, a period which also saw the first of the Seminole Wars.

In 1821 Andrew Jackson journeyed to Florida to establish a territorial government for the United States, during which time many new settlers from surrounding southern states arriving in large numbers. Florida was granted territorial status in 1822, and Tallahassee was elected as the State Capital in 1824. The onset of white European settlers led to much tension between them and the Native American populations, a situation which led to the Second Seminole War which lasted from 1835-1842. After the loss of many lives and $20 million in expenses, war came to an end with many of the native Seminoles escaping to the Everglades where they established lives for themselves away from the whites.

Florida was awarded statehood in 1845 at which time the population was around 90,000 inhabitants. The first major issue that the new state was to face was slavery, the majority of the population being in favor. There was concern about the growing opposition to slavery in the north however, and the state finally voted to secede from the Union on January 10, 1861. Florida entered the civil War with the rest of the confederacy, though no major battles were fought there. Federal troops finally occupied Tallahassee on May 10, 1865, and the Reconstruction Era began. Florida was readmitted to the Union in 1868, though Federal troops remained in Tallahassee until 1786.

Famous Battles Fought in Florida

Although only a few, these battle accounts can be very effective in uncovering the military records of your ancestor. They can tell you what regiments fought in which battles, and often include the names and ranks of many officers and enlisted men. Following are the most famous battles fought in Florida and links to useful information about them.

• Battle of Pensacola – 1781
• The Seminole Wars – 1817-1818, 1835-1842, 1855-1858
• The Battle of Olustee - 1864

Colonial Florida Genealogical Records

The Colonial era in Florida is a very important genealogical stepping-stone for researching your Florida ancestry. The Spanish were the first to colonize Florida, and many records of Florida citizens were generated by them. The majority of Florida records for the Spanish periods are held in the Papeles de Cuba section of the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. Copies of the vast majority of available records of interest have been made, and a good many have been published and can be found in the following repositories:

Boundary Changes: Boundary changes are a common obstacle when researching Florida ancestors. You could be searching for an ancestor’s record in one county when in fact it is stored in a different one due to historical county boundary changes. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries can help you to overcome that problem. It provides a chronological listing of every boundary change that has occurred in the history of Florida.

Name Changes: Surname changes, variations, and misspellings can complicate genealogical research. It is important to check all spelling variations. Soundex, a program that indexes names by sound, is a useful first step, but you can't rely on it completely as some name variations result in different Soundex codes. The surnames could be different, but the first name may be different too. You can also find records filed under initials, middle names, and nicknames as well, so you will need to get creative with surname variations and spellings in order to cover all the possibilities. For help with surname variations read our instructional article on How to Use Soundex.

Genealogical resources include not only records, but the organizations that house them, or can direct you to them. These institutions include: Archives, Libraries, Genealogical Societies, Family History Centers, Universities, Churches, and Museums.

Following are links to their websites, their physical addresses, and a summary of the records you can find there.

R.A. Gray Building
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
Tel: 850-245-6700
Email: info@dos.myflorida.com

5780 Jonesboro Road
Morrow, Georgia 30260
Tel: 770-968-2100
Fax: 770-968-2547

Smathers Library Room 100
P.O. Box 117007
Gainesville, FL 32611
Telephone: 352-392-0319
Fax: 352-392-4788

Special Collections and Archives
Robert Manning Strozier Library
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2047
Tel: 850 644-3271

435 Brevard Ave.,
Cocoa ,FL 32922
Tel: 321-690-1971

Florida State Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 940927
Maitland, FL 32794-0927
Tel: (407) 494-3747
Email: info@flsgs.org

5521 SW 163 Avenue
Southwest Ranches, FL 33331
Email: secretary@cubangenclub.org

P.O. Box 4371
Tallahassee, FL 32315-4371
Email: tgspresident@gmail.com

PO Box 967
Live Oak, FL 32064
Tel: 386-330-0110
Email: JinnieSVGS@windstream.net

Florida Family History Centers

The Family History Centers run by the LDS Church offer free access to billions of genealogical records for free to the general public. They also provide classes on genealogy and one-on-one assistance to inexperienced family historians. Here you will find a Complete Listing of Florida Family History Centers.

Florida Mailing Lists

Mailing lists are internet based facilities that use email to distribute a single message to all who subscribe to it. When information on a particular surname, new records, or any other important genealogy information related to the mailing list topic becomes available, the subscribers are alerted to it. Joining a mailing list is an excellent way to stay up to date on Florida genealogy research topics. Rootsweb have an extensive listing of Florida Mailing Lists on a variety of topics.

Florida Message Boards

A message board is another internet based facility where people can post questions about a specific genealogy topic and have it answered by other genealogists. If you have questions about a surname, record type, or research topic, you can post your question and other researchers and genealogists will help you with the answer. Be sure to check back regularly, as the answers are not emailed to you. The message boards at the Florida Genealogy Forum are completely free to use.

Florida Newspapers and Periodicals

Many genealogy periodicals and historical newspapers contain reprinted copies of family genealogies, transcripts of family Bible records, information about local records and archives, census indexes, church records, queries, land records, obituaries, court records, cemetery records, and wills.

Historical Florida Maps and Gazetteers

Maps are an integral part of genealogical research. They help us to locate landmarks, towns, cities, parishes, states, provinces, waterways and roads and streets. They also help us to determine when and where boundary changes might have taken place, and give us a visualization of the area we’re researching in. For locating place names, a gazetteer is the best possible resource for any genealogist. Gazetteers are also sometimes called “place name dictionaries”, and can help you to locate the area in which you need to conduct research.

Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce Records

Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce Records – Also known as vital records, birth, death, and marriage certificates are the most basic, yet most important records attached to your ancestor. The reason for their importance is that they not only place your ancestor in a specific place at a definite time, but potentially connect the individual to other relatives.

Census Reports

Census records are among the most important genealogical documents for placing your ancestor in a particular place at a specific time. Like BDM records, they can also lead you to other ancestors, particularly those who were living under the authority of the head of household.

Florida census records exist from 1850-1930 and many images and indexes can be viewed online.

Florida Church Records

Church and synagogue records are a valuable resource, especially for baptisms, marriages, and burials that took place before 1900. You will need to at least have an idea of your ancestor’s religious denomination, and in most cases you will have to visit a brick and mortar establishment to view them.

Most church records are kept by the individual church, although in some denominations, records are placed in a regional archive or maintained at the diocesan level. Local Historical Societies are sometimes the repository for the state’s older church records. Below are links archives that maintain church records, as well as a few databases that can be viewed online.

Central Repositories for Denominational Records

Most of the records of individual denominations are kept in central repositories.

Florida Military Records

More than 40 million Americans have participated in some time of war service since America was colonized. The chance of finding your ancestor amongst those records is exceptionally high. Military records can even reveal individuals who never actually served, such as those who registered for the two World Wars but were never called to duty.

Florida Cemetery Records

As convenient as it is to search cemetery records online, keep in mind that there are a few disadvantages over visiting a cemetery in person. They are:

• Tombstone information is not always accurately transcribed
• The arrangement of the graves in a cemetery can be crucial as family members are often buried next to each other or in the same grave. This arrangement is not always preserved in the alphabetical indexes that are found online.

With that information in mind, the following websites have databases that can be searched online for Florida Cemetery records.

Florida Obituaries

Obituaries can reveal a wealth about our ancestor and other relatives. You can search our Florida Newspaper Obituaries Listings from hundreds of Florida newspapers online for free.

Florida Wills and Probate Records

The documents found in a probate packet may include a complete inventory of a person’s estate, newspaper entries, witness testimony, a copy of a will, list of debtors and creditors, names of executors or trustees, names of heirs. They can not only tell you about the ancestor you’re currently researching, but lead to other ancestors. Most of these records must be accessed at a county court or clerk’s office, but some can be found online as well. You can obtain copies of the original probate records by writing to the county clerk.

Florida Department of State Division of Library and Information Services – Supreme Court records dating from the early 19th century

MyFloridaCounty.com – searchable online database of Florida court and probate records

Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers - list of Florida County clerks with addresses, contact numbers, and links to county websites containing information that can help obtain records, including costs.

The Family History Library maintains microfilmed copies of some Florida probate records which can be viewed at Florida Family History Centers. Records include:

• Judges' administrations, 1847-1928
• Local and foreign wills, 1847-1930
• Probate packets, 1834-1944
• Guardianships, 1886-1929
• Register of estates, 1893-1926
• Court Minutes, 1882-1928
• General index to estates, 1834-1944

Florida Immigration and Naturalization Records

The naturalization process generated many types of records, including petitions, declarations of intention, and oaths of allegiance. These records can provide family historians with information such as a person's birth date and place of birth, immigration year, marital status, spouse information, occupation, witnesses' names and addresses, and more.

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1891-1957 - Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Ports in Florida, 1890-1924, Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Key West, FL, 1898-1945

US National Archives – Immigration and Naturalization records for the entire United States

Florida City Directories

City directories are similar to telephone directories in that they list the residents of a particular area. The difference though is what is important to genealogists, and that is they pre-date telephone directories. You can find an ancestor’s information such as their street address, place of employment, occupation, or the name of their spouse. A one-stop-shop for finding city directories in Florida is the Florida Online Historical Directories which contains a listing of every available city and historical directory related to Florida.

Florida Native American Records

Florida Native American Heritage – wide variety of resources for tracing Native American Genealogy in Florida

Access Genealogy – Native American census records, tribal histories, and much more

US National Archives - Microfilmed Records Pertaining to Enumeration of Seminole Indians in Florida, 1880-1940

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Marriage and Divorce Records

The earliest available marriage records date from 1822. State-wide registration didn’t begin until 1927. Most marriage and divorce records for this period can be found at the Florida Department of Health in Jacksonville, but many county records can also be found on microfilm at the Florida State Archives in Tallahassee. They include the following:

• Dade County marriages, 1840-1871 (film 1010085), Dade County marriage license applications, 1887-1892 (film 1870454 ff.), and marriage records, 1905-1911 (film 1010085) at the Dade County Records Center in Miami.
• Escambia County marriage records, 1822-1927 (film 0941001 ff.) at the Escambia County Courthouse and the Special Collections of the University of West Florida, Pensacola.

Bibliographies

• Florida Pioneers and Their Descendants, Anne Taylor Wood (Florida State Genealogical Society, 1992)
• Anglo-Americans in Spanish Archives: Lists of Anglo-American Settlers in the Spanish Colonies of America; A Finding Aid, Lawrence H. Feldman (Genealogical Publishing Company, 1991)
• Women of Florida, Lucy W. Blackman (Southern Historical Publishing, 1940)

Selected Resources for Florida Women’s History

Broward County Women’s History Coalition
1350 East Sunrise Boulevard
Suite 114
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304

Community Coalition for Women’s History
352 NW 5th St.
Miami, FL 33128-1615

Common Florida Surnames

The following surnames are among the most common in Florida and are also being currently researched by other genealogists. If you find your surname here, there is a chance that some research has already been performed on your ancestor.

Abney, Akins, Alexander, Allen, Anderson, Arnold, Baker, Barron, Barrow, Bennett, Berg, Beville, Bird, Black, Bradham, Branch, Brett, Bridges, Brown, Bryant, Caruthers, Cassidy, Cavous, Chandler, Cocowitch, Condrey, Cook, Crawford, Crenshaw, Crews, Curry, Dixon, Dorminy, Douglas, Douglass, Dozier, Drawdy, Driggers, Durrance, Dyess, Dykes, Dickson, Eldridge, Ellis, Eubank, Eubank, Fender, Fitzgerald, Fort, Fussell, Gandie, Garner, Gant, Giddeons, Gideon, Grant, Geiger, Godfrey, Godwin, Gough, Gray, Green, Griffin, Groff, Gunn, Hadsade, Hall, Hamilton, Harrell, Harris, Hawkins, Hays, Hodge, Hope, Hudson, Hunt, Jernigan, Jones, Knight, Lane, Lawrence, Lee, Long, Lovett, Leitner, Mainor, Manor, Marlow, Martin, Matteson, Maynard, McClendon, McDermitt, McMullin, McPherson, Mercer, Merritt, Merline, Miller, Mixon, Mobley, Moore, Mott, Murrhee, Nesbitt, Norman, O'Berry, Olive, Orr, Paulk, Pemberton, Perry, Phelps, Pinner, Pelton, Powell, Prevatt, Rackley, Ramage, Revels, Richerson, Roach, Robertson, Shaw, Simmons, Sims, Smith, Sparkman, St. Clair, Stafford, Stewart, Stivender, Stokes, Sutton, Tate, Thompson, Tiddwell, Tucker, Turnage, Ussey, Varn, Vining, Voyles, Wade, Warren, Watson, Watson, Whidden, Whidden, Whiddon, Wicker, Wightman, Williams, Wilson, Wing, Wolf (Woolf), Woodard, Wright,Yates