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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 Panama City (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 Panama City. 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 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.

Panama City is located in Bay 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 Bay County: Calhoun, Gulf, Jackson, Walton & Washington.

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

  • Bay County     (The home county of Panama City)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Panama City, with the one closest to Panama City listed first.
    • Springfield
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Bay Harbor ‑ Historic
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bay Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bay Harbor
      • Bay Harbor is located in Bay County
    • Hiland Park
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hiland Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hiland Park
      • Hiland Park is located in Bay County
    • Pretty Bayou
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pretty Bayou have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pretty Bayou
      • Pretty Bayou is located in Bay County
    • Magnolia Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Magnolia Beach
      • Magnolia Beach is located in Bay County
    • Callaway
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Parker
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parker have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parker
      • Parker is located in Bay County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,109 people
    • Upper Grand Lagoon
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Upper Grand Lagoon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Grand Lagoon
      • Upper Grand Lagoon is located in Bay County
    • Lower Grand Lagoon
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lower Grand Lagoon have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lower Grand Lagoon
      • Lower Grand Lagoon is located in Bay County
    • Lynn Haven
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Cedar Grove
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Grove
      • Cedar Grove is located in Bay County
    • West Panama City Beach
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Panama City Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Panama City Beach
      • West Panama City Beach is located in Bay County
    • Panama City Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Calhoun County
  • Gulf County
    • Wewahitchka
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
  • Walton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Panama City, with the one closest to Panama City listed first.
    • Inlet Beach
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Alys Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Rosemary Beach
      (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Point Washington
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Seagrove Beach
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
    • Seaside
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Washington County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Panama City, with the one closest to Panama City listed first.
    • Ebro
      (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ebro
      • Ebro is located in Washington County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 285 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ebro <1>
    • Millers Ferry
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Millers Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Millers Ferry
      • Millers Ferry is located in Washington County

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

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Panama City ...

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 16 newspapers that have been published in the area around Panama City.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Panama City. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Panama City and those printed in the larger area surrounding Panama City.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3> of Panama City.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start 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 Panama City:

Cemeteries Near Panama City ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Panama City.

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

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

  • Oakland Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oakland Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oakland Cemetery
  • Bay Memorial Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bay Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bay Memorial Park
  • Redwood Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Redwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Redwood Cemetery
  • Millville Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Millville Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Millville Cemetery
  • Evergreen Memorial Gardens
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Memorial Gardens
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Marywood Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Marywood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Marywood Cemetery
  • Evergreen Memorial Gardens
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Evergreen Memorial Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Evergreen Memorial Gardens
  • Lynn Haven Cemetery
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Lynn Haven Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Lynn Haven Cemetery
  • Bayou George Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Kent Cemetery
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kent Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kent Cemetery
  • Farmdale Cemetery
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Continue List   (20 more) ...
    • Sand Hill Community Church Cemetery
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Porter Cemetery
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Porter Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Porter Cemetery
    • Kemp Cemetery
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Kemp Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Kemp Cemetery

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

  • Wewahitchka
    (27 miles [43.5 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 Panama City. See our List of 1890's Communities around Panama City.

The official website for Panama City: www.cityofpanamacity.com/

The official website for Bay County: www.co.bay.fl.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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Panama City) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Panama City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1589, Longitude: -85.6604    
<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 Panama City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024