RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Saint Johns County >> Florence >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Florida

The Commemorative Quarter for Florida





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 Florence (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 Florence. 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 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 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.

Florence is located in Saint Johns 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 Saint Johns County: Clay, Duval, Flagler & Putnam.

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

  • Saint Johns County     (The home county of Florence)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florence, with the one closest to Florence listed first.
    • Fruit Cove
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Saint Johns
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Tocoi
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tocoi
      • Tocoi is located in Saint Johns County
    • Saint Augustine
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Vilano Beach
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Elkton
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Palm Valley
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Armstrong
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Armstrong
      • Armstrong is located in Saint Johns County
    • Sawgrass
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • 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
    • Saint Augustine South
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Augustine South have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Augustine South
      • Saint Augustine South is located in Saint Johns County
    • Hastings
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Ponte Vedra Beach
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Bradford County
    • Lawtey
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Clay County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florence, with the one closest to Florence listed first.
    • Green Cove Springs
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Penney Farms
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Doctors Inlet
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakeside
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lakeside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County
    • Orange Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Asbury Lake
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
      • 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
    • Bellair - Meadowbrook Terrace
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • 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
    • Middleburg
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Kingsley Lake
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley Lake
      • Kingsley Lake is located in Clay County
    • Kingsley Village
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • 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
    • Keystone Heights
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake Geneva
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Duval County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florence, with the one closest to Florence listed first.
    • Mandarin
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mandarin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandarin
      • Mandarin is located in Duval County
    • Loretto
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loretto
      • Loretto is located in Duval County
    • Bowden
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowden
      • Bowden is located in Duval County
    • Sans Pareil
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sans Pareil
      • Sans Pareil is located in Duval County
    • Jacksonville Heights
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacksonville Heights
      • Jacksonville Heights is located in Duval County
    • Saint Nicholas
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • 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
    • San Marco
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Marco
      • San Marco is located in Duval County
    • San Pablo
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for San Pablo. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Pablo
      • San Pablo is located in Duval County
    • Arlington
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arlington
      • Arlington is located in Duval County
    • Brooklyn
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brooklyn
      • Brooklyn is located in Duval County
    • Jacksonville Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacksonville Beach
      • Jacksonville Beach is located in Duval County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,609 people
      • Former names for Jacksonville Beach:
      • Pablo Beach
      • Ruby
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Jacksonville Beach <1>
    • Jacksonville
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Putnam County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florence, with the one closest to Florence listed first.
    • Bostwick
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Federal Point
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal Point
      • Federal Point is located in Putnam County
    • East Palatka
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Palatka
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Florahome
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Peniel
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Peniel. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peniel
      • Peniel is located in Putnam County
    • San Mateo
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Grandin
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Putnam Hall
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Buffalo Bluff
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Buffalo Bluff. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buffalo Bluff
      • Buffalo Bluff is located in Putnam County
    • Hollister
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Satsuma
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)

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

Cemeteries Near Florence ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Florence.

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

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

  • Sampson Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sampson Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sampson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Bakersville Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bakersville Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bakersville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jacksonville Memory Gardens
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jacksonville Memory Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jacksonville Memory Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hickory Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hickory Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hickory Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Ruth Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Ruth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Ruth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olive Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olive Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holly Hill Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holly Hill Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holly Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Springbank Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Sloans Landing Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sloans Landing Cemetery
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Sloans Landing Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2216571 <4>
  • Lofton's Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Julington Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Julington Cemetery
    • The Julington Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Julington Baptist Church Cemetery
  • St. Joseph Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (87 more) ...
    • Mandarin Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Church of Our Savior Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Penney Farms Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Penney Farms Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Penney Farms Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Florence had a population of 250 people in 1895 with a post office and no railroad service.

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

  • Picolata
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Picolata have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Picolata
    • Picolata is located in Saint Johns County
  • Walkill
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walkill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walkill
    • Walkill is located in Clay County
  • Sampson
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sampson have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sampson
    • Sampson is located in Saint Johns County
  • Green Cove Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Switzerland
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Switzerland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Switzerland
    • Switzerland is located in Saint Johns County
  • Hibernia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hibernia have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibernia
    • Hibernia is located in Clay County
  • West Tocoi
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Tocoi have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Tocoi
    • West Tocoi is located in Clay County
  • Tocoi
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tocoi
    • Tocoi is located in Saint Johns County
  • Mandarin
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mandarin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandarin
    • Mandarin is located in Duval County
  • Bayard
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bayard have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayard
    • Bayard is located in Duval County
  • Greenland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenland
    • Greenland is located in Duval County
  • Beauclerc
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beauclerc have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beauclerc
    • Beauclerc is located in Duval County
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...
    • Plummers
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plummers have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plummers
      • Plummers is located in Duval County
    • Orange Park
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Lakeside
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lakeside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
      • Lakeside is located in Clay County

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

Newspapers Published in Florence ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Florence.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Florence, there are papers which were published within 19 miles [30.6 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Florence.

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 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 Florence:

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

The official website for Saint Johns County: www.co.st-johns.fl.us/

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>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>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 Florence, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Florence) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Florence. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.9902, Longitude: -81.5773       In this case, the coordinates for Florence have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025