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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 Melbourne Beach (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 Melbourne Beach. 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 Melbourne Beach ...

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 Melbourne Beach: Melbourne Bch.

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 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.

Melbourne Beach is located in Brevard 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 Brevard County: Indian River, Orange, Osceola & Volusia.

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

  • Brevard County     (The home county of Melbourne Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melbourne Beach, with the one closest to Melbourne Beach listed first.
    • Indialantic
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Melbourne
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Malabar
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Palm Bay
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • West Melbourne
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Indian Harbour Beach
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Eau Gallie
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eau Gallie
      • Eau Gallie is located in Brevard County
    • Melbourne Village
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Melbourne Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melbourne Village
      • Melbourne Village is located in Brevard County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 692 people
    • Satellite Beach
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Tropic
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • June Park
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for June Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for June Park
      • June Park is located in Brevard County
    • Grant - Valkaria
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Grant
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Indian River County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Melbourne Beach, with the one closest to Melbourne Beach listed first.
    • Roseland
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Sebastian
      (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Fellsmere
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • North Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Beach
      • North Beach is located in Indian River County
    • Orchid
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orchid have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orchid
      • Orchid is located in Indian River County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 455 people
    • Wabasso
      (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Wabasso Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wabasso Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wabasso Beach
      • Wabasso Beach is located in Indian River County
    • Winter Beach
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
    • Indian River Shores
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Gifford
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gifford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gifford
      • Gifford is located in Indian River County
  • Osceola County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Melbourne Beach ...

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 29 newspapers that have been published in the area around Melbourne Beach.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Melbourne Beach. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Melbourne Beach and those printed in the larger area surrounding Melbourne Beach.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 23 miles [37 km]<3> of Melbourne Beach.

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 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 Melbourne Beach:

Cemeteries Near Melbourne Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melbourne Beach.

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

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

  • Fountainhead Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Grant Community Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Celia Padgett Cain Cemetery
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
  • Sebastian Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Sebastian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Sebastian Cemetery
  • Old Sebastian Cemetery
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Sebastian Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Sebastian Cemetery
  • Brevard Memorial Park
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Brevard Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Brevard Memorial Park
  • Florida Memorial Cemetery
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Florida Memorial Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Florida Memorial Cemetery
  • Pine Crest Cemetery
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Pine Crest Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Pine Crest Cemetery
  • Williams Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Bethel Cemetery
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bethel Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bethel Cemetery
  • St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. Luke's Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery
  • Quarterman Family Cemetery #2
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)

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

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

  • Melbourne
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Malabar
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Eau Gallie
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eau Gallie
    • Eau Gallie is located in Brevard County
  • Valkaria
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valkaria have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valkaria
    • Valkaria is located in Brevard County
  • Tropic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Micco
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
  • Georgiana
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Georgiana have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Georgiana
    • Georgiana is located in Brevard County
  • Sebastian
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Rockledge
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Cocoa
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cocoa
    • Cocoa is located in Brevard County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,694 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cocoa <1>
  • Indianola
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indianola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indianola
    • Indianola is located in Brevard County
  • City Point
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for City Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for City Point
    • City Point is located in Brevard County
  • Sharpes
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Canaveral ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Canaveral have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canaveral
    • Canaveral is located in Brevard County

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

The official website for Melbourne Beach: www.melbournebeachfl.org/

The official website for Brevard County: www.brevardcounty.us/

The official website for State of Florida: 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>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- Melbourne Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Melbourne Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 28.0684, Longitude: -80.5584    
<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 Melbourne Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024