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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 Wales (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 Wales. 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 Wales ...

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 Wales: Lk. Wales

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.

Lake Wales 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 Wales. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Lake Wales:

  • Polk County     (The home county of Lake Wales)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Wales, with the one closest to Lake Wales listed first.
    • Highland Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Park
      • Highland Park is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 221 people
    • Crooked Lake Park
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crooked Lake Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake Park
      • Crooked Lake Park is located in Polk County
    • Waverly
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Babson Park
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Hillcrest Heights
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hillcrest Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest Heights
      • Hillcrest Heights is located in Polk County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
    • Dundee
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Cypress Gardens
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Alturas
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Wahneta
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahneta
      • Wahneta is located in Polk County
    • Lake Hamilton
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cox Corner ‑ Historic
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cox Corner
      • Cox Corner is located in Polk County
    • Lake Garfield
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Garfield
      • Lake Garfield is located in Polk County
  • Hardee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Wales, with the one closest to Lake Wales listed first.
    • Bowling Green
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Wauchula
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Zolfo Springs
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Highlands County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Wales, with the one closest to Lake Wales listed first.
    • Alpine
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
      • Alpine is located in Highlands County
    • Avon Park
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Sebring
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
  • Lake County
    • Four Corners
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
  • Osceola County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Lake Wales, with the one closest to Lake Wales listed first.
    • Poinciana Place
      (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poinciana Place have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poinciana Place
      • Poinciana Place is located in Osceola County
    • Poinciana
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Campbell
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Campbell have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campbell
      • Campbell is located in Osceola County
    • ChampionsGate
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for ChampionsGate
      • ChampionsGate is located in Osceola County
    • Intercession City
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Reunion
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Celebration
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Kissimmee
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Saint Cloud
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Lake Wales ...

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 83 newspapers that have been published in the area around Lake Wales.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Lake Wales. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Lake Wales and those printed in the larger area surrounding Lake Wales.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 29 miles [46.7 km]<3> of Lake Wales.

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 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 Wales:

Cemeteries Near Lake Wales ...

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

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

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

  • Lake Wales Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
  • Garden Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Garden Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Garden Cemetery
  • Willow Lawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
  • Friendship MB Church Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
  • Wahneta Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Biscuit Lake Cemetery
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
  • Lake Buffum Baptist Church Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Oakland Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Oaklawn Cemetery
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Fortner Family Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fortner Family Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Fortner Family Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Peace Creek Cemetery
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fortner Family Cemetery
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2349899 <4>
  • Mt. Zion Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Eden Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (69 more) ...
    • Church of Christ Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Church of Christ Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the southwest of Eagle Lake.
      • The Church of Christ Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Eagle Lake Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Church of Christ Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #71920 <4>
    • Gandy Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Gandy Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the southwest of Bartow.
      • The Gandy Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Connersville Cemetery
      • Polk Lake Cemetery
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Gandy Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72018 <4>
    • Silver Hill Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)

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.<5>

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

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

  • Wahneta
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wahneta
    • Wahneta is located in Polk County
  • Winter Haven
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Eagle Lake
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Gordonville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordonville
    • Gordonville is located in Polk County
  • Haines City
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Homeland
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Bartow
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Fort Meade
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Auburndale
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Avon Park
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
  • Bowling Green
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Lakeland
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Wauchula
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Kissimmee
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)

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

The official website for Lake Wales: www.cityoflakewales.com/

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

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 '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- Lake Wales) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake Wales. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.9012, Longitude: -81.5863    
<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>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 Wales, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024