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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 Florida Ridge (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 Florida Ridge. 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 Florida Ridge ...

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 Florida Ridge: Florida Rdg. (or less commonly used: Florida Rdge. or Florida Ridg.)

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 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.

Florida Ridge is located in Indian River 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 Indian River County: Brevard, Okeechobee, Osceola & Saint Lucie.

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

  • Indian River County     (The home county of Florida Ridge)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florida Ridge, with the one closest to Florida Ridge listed first.
    • South Beach
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Beach
      • South Beach is located in Indian River County
    • Vero Beach
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Gifford
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gifford have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gifford
      • Gifford is located in Indian River County
    • Indian River Shores
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Winter Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Wabasso
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Wabasso Beach
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wabasso Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wabasso Beach
      • Wabasso Beach is located in Indian River County
    • Orchid
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchid have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchid
      • Orchid is located in Indian River County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 455 people
    • North Beach
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Beach
      • North Beach is located in Indian River County
    • Sebastian
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Roseland
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Fellsmere
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Brevard County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florida Ridge, with the one closest to Florida Ridge listed first.
    • Micco
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Barefoot Bay
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Grant
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Grant - Valkaria
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
  • Martin County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florida Ridge, with the one closest to Florida Ridge listed first.
    • Jensen Beach
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Ocean Breeze
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ocean Breeze have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ocean Breeze
      • Ocean Breeze is located in Martin County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 413 people
      • Former name for Ocean Breeze:
      • Ocean Breeze Park
    • North River Shores
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North River Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North River Shores
      • North River Shores is located in Martin County
    • Rio
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rio have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rio
      • Rio is located in Martin County
    • Stuart
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
    • Sewall's Point
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Palm City
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Saint Lucie County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Florida Ridge, with the one closest to Florida Ridge listed first.
    • Lakewood Park
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lakewood Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakewood Park
      • Lakewood Park is located in Saint Lucie County
    • Saint Lucie Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lucie Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lucie Village
      • Saint Lucie Village is located in Saint Lucie County
      • Estimated population in 2015: 619 people
    • Saint Lucie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Lucie have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Lucie
      • Saint Lucie is located in Saint Lucie County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 648 people
    • Fort Pierce
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • White City
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for White City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White City
      • White City is located in Saint Lucie County
    • Indian River Estates
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian River Estates have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian River Estates
      • Indian River Estates is located in Saint Lucie County
    • Port Saint Lucie
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Hutchinson Island South
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Hutchinson Island South. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hutchinson Island South
      • Hutchinson Island South is located in Saint Lucie County

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

Newspapers Published in Florida Ridge ...

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 26 newspapers that have been published in the area around Florida Ridge.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Florida Ridge, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Florida Ridge.

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 Florida Ridge:

Cemeteries Near Florida Ridge ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Florida Ridge.

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

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

  • Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
  • Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
  • Garden of Heavenly Rest
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden of Heavenly Rest have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden of Heavenly Rest
  • Ft. Pierce Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. Pierce Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. Pierce Cemetery
  • Pine Grove Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Grove Cemetery
  • White City Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the White City Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the White City Cemetery
  • Old Sebastian Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Sebastian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Sebastian Cemetery
  • Sebastian Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sebastian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sebastian Cemetery
  • Celia Padgett Cain Cemetery
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Grant Community Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • All Saints Cemetery
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the All Saints Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the All Saints Cemetery
  • Fern Hill Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fern Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fern Hill 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.<6>

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

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

  • Sebastian
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Micco
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Valkaria
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valkaria have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valkaria
    • Valkaria is located in Brevard County

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

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

The official website for Indian River County: www.ircgov.com/

The official website for State of Florida: www.myflorida.com/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Florida Ridge) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Florida Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.5803, Longitude: -80.3867       In this case, the coordinates for Florida Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Florida Ridge, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024