RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Alachua County >> Melrose >> Genealogy HelperIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Florida

The Commemorative Quarter for Florida





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 Melrose (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 Melrose. 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 southwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.

Melrose is primarily located in Alachua County. A portion of Melrose extends into Bradford County, Clay County and Putnam 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 Alachua County: Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion, Putnam & Union.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Melrose ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Melrose.

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

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

  • Eliam Cemetery of Melrose Florida
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eliam Cemetery of Melrose Florida
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eliam Cemetery of Melrose Florida have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. John Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Nelson - Starke Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Nelson - Starke Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Nelson - Starke Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • St. John's Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the St. John's Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the St. John's Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Waters Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Waters Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Waters Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ochwilla Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ochwilla Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ochwilla Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Keystone Heights Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Keystone Heights Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Keystone Heights Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Free Canaan Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Free Canaan Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Free Canaan Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Saluda Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Saluda Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Saluda Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • The Saluda Cemetery has also been known as:
    • Saluda - Orange Heights Cemetery
  • Abline Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Abline Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Abline Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hawthorne Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Gilgal MB Church Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Continue List   (128 more) ...
    • Providence Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Providence Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Providence Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Townsend Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Townsend Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Townsend Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • First Baptist Church Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 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>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Melrose had a population of 267 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service.

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

  • Earleton
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Campville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Campville. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Campville
    • Campville is located in Alachua County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Campville
    • From Melrose to Campville
  • Putnam Hall
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Orange Heights
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Orange Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orange Heights
    • Orange Heights is located in Alachua County
  • Grandin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Hawthorne
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • McMeekin
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for McMeekin have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McMeekin
    • McMeekin is located in Putnam County
  • Theressa
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Theressa have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Theressa
    • Theressa is located in Bradford County
  • Windsor
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Windsor. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Windsor
    • Windsor is located in Alachua County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Windsor
    • From Melrose to Windsor
  • Grove Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Park
    • Grove Park is located in Alachua County
  • Johnson
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnson
    • Johnson is located in Putnam County
  • Waldo
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Continue List   (14 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Melrose ...

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 Melrose.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Melrose, there are papers which were published within 23 miles [37 km]<6>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Melrose.

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 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 Melrose:

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Melrose. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Alachua County: www.alachua-county.org/

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>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<3>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.
<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 Melrose, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Melrose) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Melrose. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.7097, Longitude: -82.0482    









 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

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