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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 Pickens (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 Pickens. 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 Pickens ...

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 Fort Pickens: Ft. Pickens

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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals and doctors were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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 Pickens is located in Escambia 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 Escambia County: Baldwin (AL), Escambia (AL) & Santa Rosa.

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

  • Escambia County     (The home county of Fort Pickens)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Pickens, with the one closest to Fort Pickens listed first.
    • Warrington
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Warrington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
      • Warrington is located in Escambia County
    • Myrtle Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Myrtle Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myrtle Grove
      • Myrtle Grove is located in Escambia County
    • West Pensacola
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Pensacola have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pensacola
      • West Pensacola is located in Escambia County
    • Sanders Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders Beach
      • Sanders Beach is located in Escambia County
    • Perdido Key
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Pensacola
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Gulf Beach Heights
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach Heights
      • Gulf Beach Heights is located in Escambia County
    • Gulf Beach ‑ Historic
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach
      • Gulf Beach is located in Escambia County
    • Pensacola Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Bellview
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bellview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellview
      • Bellview is located in Escambia County
    • Tristan Village
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tristan Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tristan Village
      • Tristan Village is located in Escambia County
    • Goulding
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
      • Goulding is located in Escambia County
  • Santa Rosa County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Pickens, with the one closest to Fort Pickens listed first.
    • Gulf Breeze
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Pace
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Navarre
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)
    • Galt City
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Galt City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galt City
      • Galt City is located in Santa Rosa County
    • Bagdad
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Milton
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milton
      • Milton is located in Santa Rosa County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 10,785 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Milton <2>
  • Baldwin County (AL)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Fort Pickens, with the one closest to Fort Pickens listed first.
    • Lillian
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lillian have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillian
      • Lillian is located in Baldwin County (AL)
    • Perdido Beach
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perdido Beach
      • Perdido Beach is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 652 people
    • Seminole
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seminole have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminole
      • Seminole is located in Baldwin County (AL)
    • Orange Beach
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orange Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Beach
      • Orange Beach is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,343 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Orange Beach <2>
    • Elberta
      (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elberta have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elberta
      • Elberta is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,753 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elberta <2>
    • Foley
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley
      • Foley is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,446 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Foley <2>
    • Gulf Shores
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gulf Shores have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Shores
      • Gulf Shores is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,166 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gulf Shores <2>
    • Summerdale
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summerdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summerdale
      • Summerdale is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,792 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Summerdale <2>
    • Bon Secour
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bon Secour have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bon Secour
      • Bon Secour is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bon Secour <2>
    • Oyster Bay
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Bay
      • Oyster Bay is located in Baldwin County (AL)
    • Robertsdale
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Robertsdale have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Robertsdale
      • Robertsdale is located in Baldwin County (AL)
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,030 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Robertsdale <2>
    • Magnolia Springs
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Fort Pickens ...

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 90 newspapers that have been published in the area around Fort Pickens.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Fort Pickens. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Fort Pickens and those printed in the larger area surrounding Fort Pickens.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<3> of Fort Pickens.

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 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 Pickens:

Cemeteries Near Fort Pickens ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Fort Pickens.

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

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

  • Chasefield Plantation Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chasefield Plantation Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chasefield Plantation Cemetery
  • Barrancas National Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
  • Forest Lawn of Santa Rosa
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Lawn of Santa Rosa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn of Santa Rosa
  • St. Michaels Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Clopton Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Clopton Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Clopton Cemetery
  • Milsted Family Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • St. Johns Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Nix Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for the Nix Cemetery. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • The Nix Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Nix Family Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nix Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2208378 <4>
  • Serenity Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Serenity Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Serenity Gardens
  • Magnolia Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Haven Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Haven Cemetery
  • Resthaven Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Resthaven Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Resthaven Gardens
  • Continue List   (60 more) ...
    • Holy Cross Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pensacola Memorial Gardens
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pensacola Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pensacola Memorial Gardens
    • Bayview Cemetery
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
      • The Bayview Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Bayview Memorial Park
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bayview 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 Fort Pickens in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Fort Pickens.

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

  • Warrington
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Warrington have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
    • Warrington is located in Escambia County
  • Perdido Key
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Millview
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millview have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millview
    • Millview is located in Escambia County
  • Pensacola
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Goulding
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
    • Goulding is located in Escambia County
  • Brent
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Brent have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brent
    • Brent is located in Escambia County
  • Olive
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Olive have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive
    • Olive is located in Escambia County
  • Bohemia
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bohemia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bohemia
    • Bohemia is located in Escambia County
  • Ferry Pass
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ferry Pass have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Pass
    • Ferry Pass is located in Escambia County
  • Josephine
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Josephine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Josephine
    • Josephine is located in Baldwin County (AL)
  • Yniestra
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yniestra have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yniestra
    • Yniestra is located in Escambia County
  • Cantonment
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Swift
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swift have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
      • Swift is located in Baldwin County (AL)
    • Muscogee
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscogee
      • Muscogee is located in Escambia County
    • Quintette
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quintette have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quintette
      • Quintette is located in Escambia County

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

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

The official website for Escambia County: www.co.escambia.fl.us/

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>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- Fort Pickens) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Pickens. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.3288, Longitude: -87.2991       In this case, the coordinates for Fort Pickens have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>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.
<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 Pickens, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024