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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 Cocoa (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 Cocoa. 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.

Cocoa is located in Brevard 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 Brevard County: Indian River, Orange, Osceola & Volusia.

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

  • Brevard County     (The home county of Cocoa)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cocoa, with the one closest to Cocoa listed first.
    • Merritt Island
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Rockledge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Angel City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Angel City
      • Angel City is located in Brevard County
    • Sharpes
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Port Canaveral
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Viera
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Cape Canaveral
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Port Saint John
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Saint John
      • Port Saint John is located in Brevard County
    • Cocoa Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Suntree
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Palm Shores
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Indian River City
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River City
      • Indian River City is located in Brevard County
  • Orange County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Cocoa, with the one closest to Cocoa listed first.
    • Christmas
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Wedgefield
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wedgefield
      • Wedgefield is located in Orange County
    • Bithlo
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bithlo have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bithlo
      • Bithlo is located in Orange County
    • Lake Hart
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Hart have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Hart
      • Lake Hart is located in Orange County
  • Seminole County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Cocoa ...

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 32 newspapers that have been published in the area around Cocoa.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Cocoa. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Cocoa and those printed in the larger area surrounding Cocoa.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<3> of Cocoa.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Cocoa:

Cemeteries Near Cocoa ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Cocoa.

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

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

  • Brevard Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brevard Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brevard Memorial Park
  • Florida Memorial Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Florida Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Florida Memorial Cemetery
  • Pine Crest Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Crest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Crest Cemetery
  • Williams Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
  • St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery
  • Quarterman Family Cemetery #2
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Christmas Cemetery
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Christmas Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Christmas Cemetery
  • Crook Family Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Fountainhead Memorial Park
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
  • Chuluota Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chuluota Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chuluota 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.<5>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Cocoa had a population of 312 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Cocoa had a population of 18,694 people.

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

  • City Point
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for City Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Point
    • City Point is located in Brevard County
  • Indianola
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indianola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianola
    • Indianola is located in Brevard County
  • Rockledge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
  • Sharpes
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Georgiana
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Georgiana have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgiana
    • Georgiana is located in Brevard County
  • Canaveral ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canaveral have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canaveral
    • Canaveral is located in Brevard County
  • Titusville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Tropic
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Eau Gallie
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eau Gallie
    • Eau Gallie is located in Brevard County
  • Continue List   (6 more) ...
    • Mims
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Melbourne
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Turnbull
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Turnbull have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turnbull
      • Turnbull is located in Brevard County
    • Aurantia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurantia
      • Aurantia is located in Brevard County
    • Malabar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)

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

The official website for Cocoa: www.cocoafl.org/

The official website for Brevard County: www.brevardcounty.us/

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cocoa) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cocoa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.3704, Longitude: -80.7353    
<4>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.
<5>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 Cocoa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024