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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 Lake Alfred (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 Lake Alfred. 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 Lake Alfred ...

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 Lake Alfred: Lk. Alfred

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 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 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.

Lake Alfred is located in Polk 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 Polk County: Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Orange, Osceola, Pasco & Sumter.

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

  • Polk County     (The home county of Lake Alfred)
  • Hillsborough County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Alfred, with the one closest to Lake Alfred listed first.
    • Colonial Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colonial Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colonial Village
      • Colonial Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Kings Village
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kings Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kings Village
      • Kings Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Plant City
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • South Plant City Farms
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Plant City Farms have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Plant City Farms
      • South Plant City Farms is located in Hillsborough County
    • Cedar Run
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Knights
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Plant City Heights
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plant City Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plant City Heights
      • Plant City Heights is located in Hillsborough County
    • Strawberry Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Strawberry Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry Village
      • Strawberry Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • West Plant City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Plant City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Plant City
      • West Plant City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Woodfield Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodfield Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodfield Village
      • Woodfield Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Parrish
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parrish have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parrish
      • Parrish is located in Hillsborough County
    • West Plant City Farms
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Plant City Farms have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Plant City Farms
      • West Plant City Farms is located in Hillsborough County
    • Welcome
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Lake County
  • Orange County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Alfred, with the one closest to Lake Alfred listed first.
    • Bay Lake
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Lake
      • Bay Lake is located in Orange County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 48 people
    • Lake Buena Vista
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Buena Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Buena Vista
      • Lake Buena Vista is located in Orange County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 26 people
    • Hunters Creek
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunters Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Creek
      • Hunters Creek is located in Orange County
    • Doctor Phillips
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Doctor Phillips have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Doctor Phillips
      • Doctor Phillips is located in Orange County
    • Williamsburg
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Williamsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Williamsburg
      • Williamsburg is located in Orange County
    • Bay Hill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Hill
      • Bay Hill is located in Orange County
    • Meadow Woods
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Woods have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Woods
      • Meadow Woods is located in Orange County
    • Sand Lake
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Southchase
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Southchase have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southchase
      • Southchase is located in Orange County
    • Lake Butter
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Butter have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Butter
      • Lake Butter is located in Orange County
    • Windermere
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Tangelo Park
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tangelo Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tangelo Park
      • Tangelo Park is located in Orange County
  • Osceola County
  • Pasco County

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

Cemeteries Near Lake Alfred ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Lake Alfred.

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

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

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.<4>

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

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

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

Newspapers Published in Lake Alfred ...

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 56 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Alfred.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Lake Alfred, there are papers which were published within 20 miles [32.2 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Lake Alfred.

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 Lake Alfred:

The official website for Lake Alfred: www.ci.lake-alfred.fl.us/

The official website for Polk County: www.polk-county.net/

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

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 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>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.
<4>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 Lake Alfred, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lake Alfred) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake Alfred. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.0881, Longitude: -81.7230    









 

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In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025