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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 Brightsville (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 Brightsville. 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.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Brightsville is located in Duval 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 Duval County: Baker, Clay, Nassau & Saint Johns.

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

  • Duval County     (The home county of Brightsville)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • Normandy Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Jacksonville Heights
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacksonville Heights
      • Jacksonville Heights is located in Duval County
    • Baldwin
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Magnolia Gardens
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Gardens
      • Magnolia Gardens is located in Duval County
    • Brooklyn
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Brooklyn is located in Duval County
    • Jacksonville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • San Marco
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Marco
      • San Marco is located in Duval County
    • Biscayne Village
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Biscayne Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Biscayne Village
      • Biscayne Village is located in Duval County
    • Garden City
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garden City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
      • Garden City is located in Duval County
    • Maxville
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
      • Maxville is located in Duval County
    • Talleyrand
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Talleyrand
      • Talleyrand is located in Duval County
    • Bowden
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowden
      • Bowden is located in Duval County
    • Arlington
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
      • Arlington is located in Duval County
  • Baker County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • MacClenny
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Glen Saint Mary
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Sanderson
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Taylor
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Taylor
      • Taylor is located in Baker County
  • Bradford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • Lawtey
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Starke
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace
      • Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace is located in Clay County
    • Lakeside
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeside have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County
    • Orange Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Doctors Inlet
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Middleburg
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Asbury Lake
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Asbury Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Asbury Lake
      • Asbury Lake is located in Clay County
    • Penney Farms
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Green Cove Springs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Kingsley Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Lake
      • Kingsley Lake is located in Clay County
    • Kingsley Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kingsley Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Village
      • Kingsley Village is located in Clay County
  • Nassau County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • Bryceville
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Crawford
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crawford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
      • Crawford is located in Nassau County
    • Nassau Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Nassau Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nassau Village
      • Nassau Village is located in Nassau County
    • Callahan
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Dyal
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dyal
      • Dyal is located in Nassau County
    • Hilliard
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Evergreen
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
      • Evergreen is located in Nassau County
    • Yulee
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Amelia City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Amelia City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amelia City
      • Amelia City is located in Nassau County
  • Saint Johns County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Brightsville, with the one closest to Brightsville listed first.
    • Fruit Cove
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Johns
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Ponte Vedra Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Ponte Vedra
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ponte Vedra have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponte Vedra
      • Ponte Vedra is located in Saint Johns County
    • Palm Valley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Palm Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palm Valley
      • Palm Valley is located in Saint Johns County
    • Sawgrass
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sawgrass have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawgrass
      • Sawgrass is located in Saint Johns County
  • Union County
    • Raiford
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Charlton County (GA)
    • Saint George
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint George have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint George
      • Saint George is located in Charlton County (GA)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Saint George <1>

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

Newspapers Published in Brightsville ...

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 137 newspapers that have been published in the area around Brightsville.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Brightsville, there are papers which were published within 14 miles [22.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Brightsville.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin with 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 Brightsville:

Cemeteries Near Brightsville ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Brightsville.

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 Brightsville covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Sellers Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sellers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sellers Cemetery
  • Pinkston Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pinkston Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pinkston Cemetery
  • Parrish Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Parrish Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Parrish Cemetery
  • Riverside Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Camp Captain Mooney Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
  • Whitker Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Whitker Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Whitker Cemetery
  • Daniels Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Daniels Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Daniels Cemetery
  • Westview Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Westview Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Westview Cemetery
  • Edgewood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Edgewood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Edgewood Cemetery
  • Manning Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Manning Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Manning Cemetery
  • Deese Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Deese Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Deese Cemetery
  • Duval County Paupers Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Duval County Paupers Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Duval County Paupers Cemetery
  • Continue List   (100 more) ...
    • Pinehurst Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pinehurst Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pinehurst Cemetery
    • Greenwood Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
    • Hillside Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)

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 Brightsville in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Brightsville.

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

  • Marietta
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marietta have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marietta
    • Marietta is located in Duval County
  • Sweetwater
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweetwater have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
    • Sweetwater is located in Duval County
  • Bryceville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Edgewood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edgewood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewood
    • Edgewood is located in Duval County
  • Baldwin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Jacksonville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
  • Maxville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxville
    • Maxville is located in Duval County
  • Saint Nicholas
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Nicholas have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Nicholas
    • Saint Nicholas is located in Duval County
  • South Jacksonville
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Jacksonville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Jacksonville
    • South Jacksonville is located in Duval County
  • Panama Park
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Panama Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama Park
    • Panama Park is located in Duval County
  • Crawford
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crawford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crawford
    • Crawford is located in Nassau County
  • Lakeside
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakeside have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
    • Lakeside is located in Clay County
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...
    • Orange Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Bowden
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowden
      • Bowden is located in Duval County
    • Spring Glen
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Spring Glen have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Glen
      • Spring Glen is located in Duval County

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

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Brightsville. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

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

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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.
<3>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Brightsville) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brightsville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.3216, Longitude: -81.8523       In this case, the coordinates for Brightsville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Brightsville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024