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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 Manasota (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 Manasota. 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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals 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.

Manasota is located in Sarasota 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 Sarasota County: Charlotte, DeSoto & Manatee.

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

  • Sarasota County     (The home county of Manasota)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Manasota, with the one closest to Manasota listed first.
    • South Venice
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Venice Gardens
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Venice Gardens is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venice Gardens
    • Plantation
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Plantation is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plantation
    • Englewood
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Venice
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Venice is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Venice
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 24,634 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Venice <1>
    • Nokomis
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Laurel
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Warm Mineral Springs
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • North Port
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Shiney Town
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Shiney Town is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shiney Town
    • Osprey
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Vamo
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Vamo is located in Sarasota County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vamo
  • Charlotte County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Manasota, with the one closest to Manasota listed first.
    • Manasota Key
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Grove City
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Rotonda West
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • El Jobean
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
    • Cape Haze
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Murdock
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Placida
      (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Port Charlotte
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Charlotte Harbor
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Fishermens Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Fishermens Village is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fishermens Village
    • Charlotte Park
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Charlotte Park is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlotte Park
    • Harbor View
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Harbor View is located in Charlotte County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor View
  • DeSoto County
  • Lee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Manasota, with the one closest to Manasota listed first.
    • Boca Grande
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Cayo Costa
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
    • Bokeelia
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Burnt Store Marina
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southeast)
      • Burnt Store Marina is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Store Marina
    • Pineland
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Pineland
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
      • Pineland is located in Lee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineland
  • Manatee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Manasota, with the one closest to Manasota listed first.
    • Sandy
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Sandy is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
    • Verna
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
      • Verna is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Verna
    • Lakewood Ranch
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Myakka City
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Tallevast
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Longboat Key
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Whitfield
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Whitfield is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitfield
    • Waterbury
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Waterbury is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waterbury
    • Bayshore Gardens
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Bayshore Gardens is located in Manatee County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayshore Gardens

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

Cemeteries Near Manasota ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Manasota.

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

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

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

  • Gulf Pines Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Venice Memorial Gardens
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Gulf Pines Memorial Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Sarasota National Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
  • Restlawn Memorial Gardens
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Sarasota Memorial Park
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Sardis Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Myakka Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Bethel Mennonite Church Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Palms Memorial Park Gardens
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Palms Memorial Park
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Galilee Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Indian Springs Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Cleveland Cemetery
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)

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

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

  • Grove City
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Charlotte Harbor
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Punta Gorda
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Harbor View
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
    • Harbor View is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harbor View
  • Sandy
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Sandy is located in Manatee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
  • Cleveland
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
    • Cleveland is located in Charlotte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cleveland
  • Fort Ogden
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Manasota ...

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 15 newspapers that have been published in the area around Manasota.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Manasota, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Manasota.

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 either 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 Manasota:

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 Manasota, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Manasota) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.