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.
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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors 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.
Fort Pickens is located in Escambia 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 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)
- Warrington is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
- Myrtle Grove
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Myrtle Grove is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Myrtle Grove
- Sand Cut ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Sand Cut is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Cut
- West Pensacola
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- West Pensacola is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Pensacola
- Sanders Beach
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
- Sanders Beach is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanders Beach
- 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)
- Gulf Beach Heights is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach Heights
- Gulf Beach ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Gulf Beach is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Beach
- Pensacola Beach
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Bellview
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Bellview is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bellview
- Goulding
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Goulding is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
- 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)
- Galt City is located in Santa Rosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Galt City
- Bagdad
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Milton
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- 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)
- Lillian is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lillian
- Perdido Beach
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
- Perdido Beach is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perdido Beach
- Population from the 2020 Census: 652 people
- Seminole
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Seminole is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seminole
- Orange Beach
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
- Elberta
(18 miles [29 km] to the west)
- Foley
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Foley is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foley
- Population from the 2020 Census: 21,446 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Foley <1>
- Gulf Shores
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
- Summerdale
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Bon Secour
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
- Oyster Bay
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
- Oyster Bay is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oyster Bay
- Magnolia Springs
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Robertsdale
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Fort Pickens, see our County-by-County Page for 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.
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 Fort Pickens - one of the links might be able to help.
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)
- Barrancas National Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Forest Lawn of Santa Rosa
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- St. Michaels Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- Clopton Cemetery
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
- 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)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nix Cemetery
- The Nix Cemetery has also been known as:
- Nix Family Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2208378 <2>
- Serenity Gardens
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Magnolia Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Haven Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Resthaven Gardens
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- 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)
- Bayview Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayview Cemetery
- The Bayview Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bayview Memorial Park
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.<3>
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)
- Warrington is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warrington
- Perdido Key
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Millview
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Millview is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millview
- Pensacola
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Goulding
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
- Goulding is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goulding
- Brent
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Brent is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brent
- Olive
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Olive is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Olive
- Bohemia
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
- Bohemia is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bohemia
- Ferry Pass
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Ferry Pass is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferry Pass
- Josephine
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Josephine is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Josephine
- Yniestra
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Yniestra is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yniestra
- Cantonment
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Continue List (9 more) ...
- Swift
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
- Swift is located in Baldwin County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
- Muscogee
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Muscogee is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muscogee
- Quintette
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Quintette is located in Escambia County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quintette
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.
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 29 miles [46.7 km]<4> of Fort Pickens.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we 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:
- Websites specific to Florida
- Pages specific to Escambia County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Santa Rosa County
- Baldwin County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Florida
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 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Pickens) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |