RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Highlands County >> De Soto City >> 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 De Soto City (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 De Soto City. 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 southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

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 south 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.

De Soto City is located in Highlands 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 Highlands County: Charlotte, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Okeechobee, Osceola & Polk.

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

  • Highlands County     (The home county of De Soto City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from De Soto City, with the one closest to De Soto City listed first.
    • Sebring
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Lorida
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Sylvan Shores
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Sylvan Shores is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvan Shores
    • Lake Placid
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Avon Park
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Alpine
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Alpine is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Placid Lakes
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
      • Placid Lakes is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placid Lakes
    • Archbold
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
      • Archbold is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archbold
    • Venus
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
  • DeSoto County
    • Calvinia ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
  • Hardee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from De Soto City, with the one closest to De Soto City listed first.
    • Crewsville
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
    • Zolfo Springs
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Wauchula
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Bowling Green
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from De Soto City, with the one closest to De Soto City listed first.
    • Pittsburg
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Pittsburg is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsburg
    • Frostproof
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Indian Lake Estates
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Cacema Town ‑ Historic
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Cacema Town is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cacema Town
    • Babson Park
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Hillcrest Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Hillcrest Heights is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest Heights
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Lakeshore
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Nalcrest
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Crooked Lake Park
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Crooked Lake Park is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake Park
    • Highland Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Highland Park is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Park
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people

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

Cemeteries Near De Soto City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of De Soto City.

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 De Soto City - one of the links might be able to help.

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

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

  • Lakeside Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Pinecrest Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Whitten Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Oak Hill Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Lakeview Memorial Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Memorial Gardens
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Lakeview Memorial Gardens is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<2> to the south of Avon Park.
  • Prescott Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Bougainvillea Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Oak Creek Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Ft. Kissimmee Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
  • Corinth Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinth Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Corinth Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<2> to the northwest of Avon Park.
    • The Corinth Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Bereah Cemetery
    • Corinth Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2242863 <3>
  • Hart Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Silver Hill Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Hill Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Silver Hill Cemetery is located 2 miles [3.2 km]<2> to the south of Frostproof.
    • The Silver Hill Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Silver Lake Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72619 <3>
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Biscuit Lake Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Eden Cemetery
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Eden Cemetery is located 6 miles [9.7 km]<2> to the west of Frostproof.
      • The Eden Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Little Eden Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #71928 <3>
    • Basinger Cemetery
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)

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.<4>

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

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

  • Crewsville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
  • Avon Park
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Zolfo Springs
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
  • Wauchula
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
  • Calvinia ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
    • Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
  • Bowling Green
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)

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

Newspapers Published in De Soto City ...

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 21 newspapers that have been published in the area around De Soto City.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of De Soto City, there are papers which were published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for De Soto City.

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 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 De Soto City:

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>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 drawn from Point A (ie- De Soto City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 De Soto City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.