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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Miami Beach (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Miami Beach. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Miami Beach ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Miami Beach: Miami Bch.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Miami Beach is located in Miami-Dade County.

To see how the shape of Florida's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Miami-Dade County: Broward, Collier & Monroe.

Below are the counties that are near Miami Beach. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Miami Beach:

  • Miami-Dade County     (The home county of Miami Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Miami Beach, with the one closest to Miami Beach listed first.
    • Fisher Island
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher Island have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher Island
      • Fisher Island is located in Miami-Dade County
    • Isle of Normandy
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Isle of Normandy
      • Isle of Normandy is located in Miami-Dade County
      • Isle of Normandy has also been known as:
      • Normandy Isle
      • Normandy
    • Normandy Shores
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Normandy Shores
      • Normandy Shores is located in Miami-Dade County
    • North Bay Village
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Lemon City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lemon City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lemon City
      • Lemon City is located in Miami-Dade County
    • Brickell
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Miami
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miami
      • Miami is located in Miami-Dade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 471,525 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Miami <2>
    • Indian Creek Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Creek Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek Village
      • Indian Creek Village is located in Miami-Dade County
    • Indian Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
      • Indian Creek is located in Miami-Dade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 88 people
    • Surfside
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • El Portal
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for El Portal have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for El Portal
      • El Portal is located in Miami-Dade County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,355 people
    • Miami Shores
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Broward County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Miami Beach, with the one closest to Miami Beach listed first.
    • Hallandale Beach
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Hallandale
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hallandale came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hallandale
      • Hallandale is located in Broward County
    • Lake Forest
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Forest
      • Lake Forest is located in Broward County
    • Miami Gardens
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miami Gardens
      • Miami Gardens is located in Broward County
    • Pembroke Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • West Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Park
      • West Park is located in Broward County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 15,038 people
    • Carver Ranches
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carver Ranches have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carver Ranches
      • Carver Ranches is located in Broward County
    • Utopia
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Utopia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Utopia
      • Utopia is located in Broward County
    • Hollywood
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • West Hollywood
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Dania Beach
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Miramar
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Miami Beach, see our County-by-County Page for Miami Beach.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Miami Beach ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 307 newspapers that have been published in the area around Miami Beach.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Miami Beach. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Miami Beach and those printed in the larger area surrounding Miami Beach.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 18 miles [29 km]<4> of Miami Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Miami Beach:

Cemeteries Near Miami Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Miami Beach.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Miami Beach covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Miami Beach, with the one closest to Miami Beach listed first.

  • Miami City Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Miami City Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Miami.
    • The Miami City Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Biscayne Park Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miami City Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #71852 <5>
  • City Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the City Cemetery
  • Woodlawn Park Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Woodlawn Park Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Woodlawn Park Cemetery
  • Southern Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Southern Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Southern Memorial Park
  • Lincoln Evergreen Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Evergreen Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Evergreen Memorial Park
  • Lincoln Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Memorial Park
  • Evergreen Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Memorial Park
  • Graceland Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Graceland Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Graceland Memorial Park
  • Charlotte Jane Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Charlotte Jane Memorial Park
  • Southern Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Mt. Sinai Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park
  • Mt. Sinai Memorial Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park
  • Continue List   (31 more) ...
    • Dade Memorial Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Dade Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Dade Memorial Park
    • Miami Shores Memorial Park
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Miami Shores Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Miami Shores Memorial Park
    • Mt. Nebo Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Nebo Cemetery

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<6>

While we didn't find Miami Beach in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Miami Beach.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Miami Beach, with the one closest to Miami Beach listed first.

  • Miami
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Miami
    • Miami is located in Miami-Dade County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 471,525 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Miami <2>
  • Cutler
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cutler have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cutler
    • Cutler is located in Miami-Dade County

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Miami Beach. See our List of 1890's Communities around Miami Beach.

The official website for Miami Beach: www.ci.miami-beach.fl.us/

The official website for Miami-Dade County: www.miamidade.gov/

The official website for State of Florida: www.myflorida.com/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Miami Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Miami Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 25.7923, Longitude: -80.1321    
<5>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<6>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Miami Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024