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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 Penney Farms (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 Penney Farms. 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 hospitals and doctors 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.

Penney Farms is located in Clay 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 Clay County: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Duval, Putnam & Saint Johns.

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

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

Cemeteries Near Penney Farms ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Penney Farms.

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

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

  • Penney Farms Cemetery
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Penney Farms Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Penney Farms Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Salem Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Salem Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Salem Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Springbank Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Hickory Grove Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Hickory Grove Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Hickory Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Holly Hill Memorial Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Holly Hill Memorial Park
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Holly Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Mt. Olive Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Mt. Olive Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Mt. Olive Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Middleburg Methodist Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Middleburg Methodist Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Middleburg Methodist Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Fowler Cemetery
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Fowler Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Fowler Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Beulah Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Beulah Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Beulah Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jacksonville Memory Gardens
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Jacksonville Memory Gardens
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Jacksonville Memory Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Rideout Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rideout Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rideout Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Little Ruth Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Little Ruth Cemetery
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Little Ruth Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Continue List   (126 more) ...
    • Old Conway Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Old Conway Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Old Conway Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Johns Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Johns Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Johns Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Oak Grove Cemetery
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Oak Grove Cemetery
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Oak Grove Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<1> 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.<4>

While we didn't find Penney Farms in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Penney Farms.

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

  • Green Cove Springs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Middleburg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Belmore
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Belmore have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belmore
    • Belmore is located in Clay County
  • Hibernia
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hibernia have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hibernia
    • Hibernia is located in Clay County
  • Walkill
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Walkill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walkill
    • Walkill is located in Clay County
  • Lakeside
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lakeside. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeside
    • Lakeside is located in Clay County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Lakeside
    • From Penney Farms to Lakeside
  • Switzerland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Switzerland have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Switzerland
    • Switzerland is located in Saint Johns County
  • Kingsley
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kingsley have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingsley
    • Kingsley is located in Clay County
  • Picolata
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Picolata have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Picolata
    • Picolata is located in Saint Johns County
  • Florence
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Florence have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
    • Florence is located in Saint Johns County
  • West Tocoi
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Tocoi have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Tocoi
    • West Tocoi is located in Clay County
  • Mandarin
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mandarin. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandarin
    • Mandarin is located in Duval County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Mandarin
    • From Penney Farms to Mandarin
  • Continue List   (13 more) ...

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

Newspapers Published in Penney Farms ...

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 17 newspapers that have been published in the area around Penney Farms.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Penney Farms, there are papers which were published within 18 miles [29 km]<5>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Penney Farms.

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 Penney Farms:

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

The official website for Clay County: www.claycountygov.com/

The official website for State of Florida: https://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>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>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 Penney Farms, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>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- Penney Farms) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Penney Farms. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.9797, Longitude: -81.8094    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025