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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 Gardner (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 Gardner. 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 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.

Gardner is located in Hardee 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 Hardee County: DeSoto, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee & Polk.

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

  • Hardee County     (The home county of Gardner)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Zolfo Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Ona
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Wauchula
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Crewsville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
      • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
    • Bowling Green
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Charlotte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Harbour Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Harbour Heights is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbour Heights
    • Cleveland
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
      • Cleveland is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
    • Harbor View
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Harbor View is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor View
  • DeSoto County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Calvinia ‑ Historic
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
    • Arcadia
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Nocatee
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Fort Ogden
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Highlands County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Sebring
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • De Soto City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
      • De Soto City is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto City
    • Avon Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Placid Lakes
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
      • Placid Lakes is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placid Lakes
    • Lake Placid
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Alpine
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Alpine is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
    • Sylvan Shores
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
      • Sylvan Shores is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvan Shores
    • Archbold
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Archbold is located in Highlands County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archbold
  • Manatee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Sandy
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
      • Sandy is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
    • Myakka City
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Duette
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Verna
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Verna is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verna
  • Polk County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Gardner, with the one closest to Gardner listed first.
    • Fort Meade
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Pittsburg
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
      • Pittsburg is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsburg
    • Brewster ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Brewster is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewster
    • Oponys Town ‑ Historic
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Oponys Town is located in Polk County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oponys Town

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

Cemeteries Near Gardner ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Gardner.

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 Gardner - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Gardner covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Coker Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Lamp Grounds Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Ridge Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Joshua Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
  • Oak Creek Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Wauchula Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauchula Cemetery
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Wauchula Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Wauchula.
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72732 <2>
  • Pine Level Campground Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Owens Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Whitten Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Prescott Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Hull Cemetery
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Continue List   (28 more) ...
    • Hart Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • Olive Branch Cemetery
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Ogden Cemetery
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Calvinia ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
  • Zolfo Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Arcadia
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Pine Level
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Level is located in DeSoto County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
  • Wauchula
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Nocatee
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Crewsville
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Crewsville is located in Hardee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
  • Bowling Green
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
  • Sandy
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Sandy is located in Manatee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
  • Fort Ogden
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
  • Avon Park
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
  • Fort Meade
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Cleveland
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Cleveland is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland

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

Newspapers Published in Gardner ...

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 31 newspapers that have been published in the area around Gardner.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Gardner, 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 Gardner.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer 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 Gardner:

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 Gardner, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Gardner) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.