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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 Crystal Lake (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 Crystal Lake. 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 Crystal Lake ...

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 Crystal Lake: Crystal Lk.

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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals 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.

Crystal Lake is located in Washington 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 Washington County: Bay, Holmes, Jackson & Walton.

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

  • Washington County     (The home county of Crystal Lake)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Ebro
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebro
      • Ebro is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ebro <1>
    • Vernon
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Millers Ferry
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Millers Ferry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
      • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
    • Wausau
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Brock Crossroad
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brock Crossroad
      • Brock Crossroad is located in Washington County
    • Five Points
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
      • Five Points is located in Washington County
    • Coosada Old Town ‑ Historic
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coosada Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coosada Old Town
      • Coosada Old Town is located in Washington County
    • Caryville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Chipley
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Bay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Vicksburg ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Vicksburg. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vicksburg
      • Vicksburg is located in Bay County
      • Former name for Vicksburg:
      • Vickerburg
    • Southport
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Lynn Haven
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Youngstown
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Fountain
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Cedar Grove
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Cedar Grove is located in Bay County
    • Hiland Park
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hiland Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiland Park
      • Hiland Park is located in Bay County
    • Pretty Bayou
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pretty Bayou have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pretty Bayou
      • Pretty Bayou is located in Bay County
    • Magnolia Beach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Beach
      • Magnolia Beach is located in Bay County
    • Panama City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Laguna Beach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Panama City Beach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Calhoun County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Clarksville
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
    • Kinard
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Holmes County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Bonifay
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Ponce de Leon
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Westville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Cerrogordo
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cerrogordo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerrogordo
      • Cerrogordo is located in Holmes County
  • Jackson County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Alford
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Steele City
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Steele City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steele City
      • Steele City is located in Jackson County
    • Cottondale
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Walton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Crystal Lake, with the one closest to Crystal Lake listed first.
    • Knox Hill
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
      • Knox Hill is located in Walton County
    • Alys Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Inlet Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Rosemary Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Point Washington
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Freeport
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Seagrove Beach
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Argyle
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Grayton Beach
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Seaside
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Portland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Portland have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
      • Portland is located in Walton County

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

Cemeteries Near Crystal Lake ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Crystal Lake.

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

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

  • Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery
    • The Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Kingdom Life Ministries Cemetery
    • Victory Faith Tabernacle Cemetery
    • Victory of Faith Fellowship Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2267647 <4>
  • Greenhead Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenhead Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenhead Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Deadening Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Deadening Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Deadening Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tiller Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tiller Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tiller Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Gainer Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gainer Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Gainer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Porter Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Porter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Porter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Potter Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Potter Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Potter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ebro Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ebro Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ebro Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Weeks Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Weeks Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Weeks Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Barfield Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Barfield Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Barfield Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • White Oak Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White Oak Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White Oak Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Wood Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wood Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (54 more) ...
    • Lay Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lay Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lay Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Wilcox Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Wilcox Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Wilcox Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Lynn Haven Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lynn Haven Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lynn Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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>

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

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

  • Millers Ferry
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Millers Ferry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
    • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County
  • Redbay
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Redbay have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redbay
    • Redbay is located in Walton County
  • Knox Hill
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knox Hill
    • Knox Hill is located in Walton County
  • Caryville
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Bonifay
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
  • Westville
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Chipley
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Ponce de Leon
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Eucheeanna
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Eucheeanna have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eucheeanna
    • Eucheeanna is located in Walton County
  • Freeport
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
  • Argyle
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
  • Cerrogordo
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cerrogordo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cerrogordo
    • Cerrogordo is located in Holmes County

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

Newspapers Published in Crystal Lake ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Crystal Lake.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Crystal Lake, there are papers which were published within 24 miles [38.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Crystal Lake.

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 Crystal Lake:

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

The official website for Washington County: www.washingtonfl.com/

The official website for State of Florida: https://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>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.
<3>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.
<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 Crystal Lake, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Crystal Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Crystal Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.4441, Longitude: -85.6885       In this case, the coordinates for Crystal Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025