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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 Ocala (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 Ocala. 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 and doctors 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.

Ocala is located in Marion 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 Marion County: Alachua, Citrus, Lake, Levy, Putnam, Sumter & Volusia.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Ocala ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ocala.

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

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

  • Forest Hills Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Hills Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Hills Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Temple Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Temple Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Temple Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Evergreen Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Agnew Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Agnew Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Agnew Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Tucker Hill Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Tucker Hill Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Tucker Hill Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Greenwood Cemetery Section
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery Section
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery Section have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Hillcrest Cemetery Section
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hillcrest Cemetery Section
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hillcrest Cemetery Section have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Woodlawn Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Highland Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
  • Lincoln Memorial Gardens of Ocala
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lincoln Memorial Gardens of Ocala
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lincoln Memorial Gardens of Ocala have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Ft. King Burial Grounds
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Ft. King Burial Grounds
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Ft. King Burial Grounds have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Tabor Cemetery
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Tabor Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Tabor Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (92 more) ...
    • Watula Cemetery
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Watula Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Watula Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Forest Lawn Memory Gardens
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Forest Lawn Memory Gardens
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Forest Lawn Memory Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.

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 Ocala had a population of 2,904 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Ocala had a population of 61,669 people.

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

  • Kendrick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kendrick have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kendrick
    • Kendrick is located in Marion County
  • Montague
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Montague have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montague
    • Montague is located in Marion County
  • Silver Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Santos
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Santos have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Santos
    • Santos is located in Marion County
  • Martel
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martel have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martel
    • Martel is located in Marion County
  • Martin
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Anthony
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
  • York
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for York have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for York
    • York is located in Marion County
  • Fellowship
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Lowell
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Belleview
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Grahamsville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grahamsville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grahamsville
    • Grahamsville is located in Marion County
  • Continue List   (16 more) ...
    • Sparr
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Cotton Plant
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cotton Plant have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Plant
      • Cotton Plant is located in Marion County
    • Leroy ‑ Historic
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leroy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
      • Leroy is located in Marion County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Ocala ...

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 52 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ocala.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Ocala. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Ocala and those printed in the larger area surrounding Ocala.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 26 miles [41.8 km]<6> of Ocala.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Ocala:

The official website for Ocala: www.ocalafl.org/

The official website for Marion County: www.marioncountyfl.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>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>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.
<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 Ocala, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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- Ocala) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ocala. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.1872, Longitude: -82.1404    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025