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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 Naples (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 Naples. 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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. 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 east 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.

Naples is located in Collier County and is the County Seat.

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 Collier County: Broward, Hendry, Lee, Miami-Dade & Monroe.

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

  • Collier County     (The home county of Naples)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Naples, with the one closest to Naples listed first.
    • East Naples
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for East Naples have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Naples
      • East Naples is located in Collier County
    • Lely
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lely
      • Lely is located in Collier County
    • North Naples
      (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for North Naples have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Naples
      • North Naples is located in Collier County
    • Naples Manor
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Naples Manor have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Naples Manor
      • Naples Manor is located in Collier County
    • Pelican Bay
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Pine Ridge
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
      • Pine Ridge is located in Collier County
    • Golden Gate
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Vineyards
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Vineyards have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vineyards
      • Vineyards is located in Collier County
    • Lely Resort
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lely Resort have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lely Resort
      • Lely Resort is located in Collier County
    • Naples Park
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Vanderbilt Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Marco
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marco came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marco
      • Marco is located in Collier County
    • Barefoot Beach
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barefoot Beach
      • Barefoot Beach is located in Collier County
  • Lee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Naples, with the one closest to Naples listed first.
    • Bonita Springs
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Estero
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • San Carlos Park
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Carlos Park
      • San Carlos Park is located in Lee County
    • Three Oaks
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Three Oaks have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Oaks
      • Three Oaks is located in Lee County
    • Fort Myers Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Island Park
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Island Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Island Park
      • Forest Island Park is located in Lee County
    • Sanibel
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Truckland ‑ Historic
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Truckland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Truckland
      • Truckland is located in Lee County
    • Biggar
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
    • Harlem Heights
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem Heights
      • Harlem Heights is located in Lee County
    • Punta Rassa
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Punta Rassa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punta Rassa
      • Punta Rassa is located in Lee County
    • Cypress Lake
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cypress Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Lake
      • Cypress Lake is located in Lee County
    • Iona
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iona have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iona
      • Iona is located in Lee County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Naples ...

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 19 newspapers that have been published in the area around Naples.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Naples. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Naples and those printed in the larger area surrounding Naples.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4> of Naples.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Naples:

Cemeteries Near Naples ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Naples.

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

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

  • Crest Lawn Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Crest Lawn Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Crest Lawn Cemetery
  • Naples Memorial Gardens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Bonita Springs Cemetery
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Johnson Cemetery
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Koreshan Cemetery #2
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Sanibel Cemetery
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)

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.<6>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Naples had a post office and no railroad service. In 2020, Naples had a population of 21,988 people.

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

  • Sanibel
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Punta Rassa
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Punta Rassa have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Punta Rassa
    • Punta Rassa is located in Lee County

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

The official website for Naples: www.naplesgov.com/

The official website for Collier County: www.co.collier.fl.us/

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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>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- Naples) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Naples. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.1419, Longitude: -81.7949    
<5>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.
<6>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 Naples, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024