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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 Fort Myers Beach (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 Fort Myers Beach. 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 Fort Myers Beach ...

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.

  • A typical abbreviation for Fort Myers Beach: Ft. Myers Bch.
  • While the name of this town is Fort Myers Beach, be aware that it's the common practice of mapmakers to remove the apostrophe from possessive names<1>. So Fort Myers Beach may originally have been Fort Myer's Beach.

    Sometimes the trailing 's' might be dropped altogether, in which case Fort Myers Beach might be written as Fort Myer Beach.

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 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.

Fort Myers Beach is located in Lee 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 Lee County: Charlotte, Collier, Glades & Hendry.

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

  • Lee County     (The home county of Fort Myers Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Myers Beach, with the one closest to Fort Myers Beach listed first.
    • Truckland ‑ Historic
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Truckland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truckland
      • Truckland is located in Lee County
    • Harlem Heights
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem Heights
      • Harlem Heights is located in Lee County
    • Iona
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iona
      • Iona is located in Lee County
    • Forest Island Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Island Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Island Park
      • Forest Island Park is located in Lee County
    • Punta Rassa
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Punta Rassa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punta Rassa
      • Punta Rassa is located in Lee County
    • Shell Point Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shell Point Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Point Village
      • Shell Point Village is located in Lee County
    • Sanibel
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Biggar
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Cypress Lake
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cypress Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Lake
      • Cypress Lake is located in Lee County
    • McGregor
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McGregor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McGregor
      • McGregor is located in Lee County
    • Estero
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Cape Coral
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Collier County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Myers Beach, with the one closest to Fort Myers Beach listed first.
    • Barefoot Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barefoot Beach
      • Barefoot Beach is located in Collier County
    • Vanderbilt Beach
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Naples Park
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Pelican Bay
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pine Ridge
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
      • Pine Ridge is located in Collier County
    • North Naples
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Naples have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Naples
      • North Naples is located in Collier County
    • Vineyards
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vineyards have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineyards
      • Vineyards is located in Collier County
    • Golden Gate
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Naples
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • East Naples
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Naples have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Naples
      • East Naples is located in Collier County
    • Orangetree
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orangetree have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orangetree
      • Orangetree is located in Collier County
    • Lely
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lely
      • Lely is located in Collier County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fort Myers Beach ...

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 36 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Myers Beach.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fort Myers Beach. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fort Myers Beach and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fort Myers Beach.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4> of Fort Myers Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Fort Myers Beach:

Cemeteries Near Fort Myers Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Myers Beach.

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 Fort Myers Beach covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Sanibel Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Koreshan Cemetery #2
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Ft. Myers Memorial Gardens
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Coral Ridge Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Bonita Springs Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Crest Lawn Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crest Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crest Lawn Cemetery
  • Naples Memorial Gardens
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Calvary Gardens
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Frierson - Hendry Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Hendry Frierson Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hendry Frierson Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hendry Frierson Cemetery
  • Oak Ridge Cemetery
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Continue List   (12 more) ...
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Lee Memorial Garden Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lee Memorial Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lee Memorial Garden Cemetery
    • Ft. Myers Cemetery
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)

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 Fort Myers Beach in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fort Myers Beach.

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

  • Punta Rassa
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Punta Rassa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punta Rassa
    • Punta Rassa is located in Lee County
  • Sanibel
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Saint James City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Buckingham
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckingham
    • Buckingham is located in Lee County
  • Naples
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Alva
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)

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

The official website for Fort Myers Beach: www.fmbeach.org/

The official website for Lee County: www.lee-county.com/

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

Footnotes ...

<1>It's generally believed that possessive apostrophes are removed to prevent confusion on maps where the apostrophe may be confused with a cartographic symbol. While this is generally true, it's not uncommon to find possessive apostrophes in administrative names (such as towns or counties).
<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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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- Fort Myers Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Myers Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.4485, Longitude: -81.9423    
<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 Fort Myers Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024