RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Lee County >> Cayo Pelau >> Genealogy HelperIndex...

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 Cayo Pelau (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 Cayo Pelau. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors 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.

Cayo Pelau is located in Lee County.

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

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Lee County: Charlotte, Collier, Glades & Hendry.

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

  • Lee County     (The home county of Cayo Pelau)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cayo Pelau, with the one closest to Cayo Pelau listed first.
    • Boca Grande
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Bokeelia
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cayo Costa
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pineland
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Burnt Store Marina
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
      • Burnt Store Marina is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Store Marina
    • Pineland
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Pineland is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineland
    • Pine Island Center
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Pine Island Center is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island Center
    • Matlacha Isles - Matlacha Shores
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Matlacha
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Flamingo Bay
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Flamingo Bay is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flamingo Bay
    • Captiva
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Captiva is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Captiva
    • Palmona Park
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
      • Palmona Park is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Palmona Park
    • Saint James City
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Charlotte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cayo Pelau, with the one closest to Cayo Pelau listed first.
    • Placida
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cape Haze
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Rotonda West
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Grove City
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • El Jobean
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Charlotte Park
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Charlotte Park is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlotte Park
    • Manasota Key
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Fishermens Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Fishermens Village is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishermens Village
    • Charlotte Harbor
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Port Charlotte
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Punta Gorda
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Murdock
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Solana
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Solana is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Solana
  • DeSoto County
  • Sarasota County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cayo Pelau, with the one closest to Cayo Pelau listed first.
    • Englewood
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • North Port
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Warm Mineral Springs
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Plantation
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Plantation is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plantation
    • South Venice
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Venice Gardens
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Venice Gardens is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venice Gardens
    • Venice
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Venice is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,634 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Venice <1>
    • Nokomis
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Laurel
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Shiney Town
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Shiney Town is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiney Town

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

Cemeteries Near Cayo Pelau ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cayo Pelau.

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.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Cayo Pelau - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Indian Springs Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Gulf Pines Memorial Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Coral Ridge Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Royal Palm Memorial Gardens
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Captiva Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Captiva Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Captiva Cemetery is located in Captiva.
    • The Captiva Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Chapel by the Sea Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1961480 <2>
  • Restlawn Memorial Gardens
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Cleveland Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Coral Ridge Gardens
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Gulf Pines Memorial Park
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Prospect Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Ft. Myers Memorial Gardens
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
  • Frierson - Hendry Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...

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.<3>

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

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

  • Grove City
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Punta Gorda
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Charlotte Harbor
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Harbor View
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Harbor View is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor View
  • Cleveland
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Cleveland is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
  • Saint James City
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Punta Rassa
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Punta Rassa is located in Lee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punta Rassa
  • Sanibel
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Fort Ogden
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Cayo Pelau ...

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 39 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cayo Pelau.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Cayo Pelau, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Cayo Pelau.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These 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 Cayo Pelau:

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 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.
<3>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 Cayo Pelau, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Cayo Pelau) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.