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 Ridge Wood Heights (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 Ridge Wood Heights. 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.
Name Variations for Ridge Wood Heights ...
When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.
Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might occur.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Ridge Wood Heights: Ridge Wood Hts. (in Canada, 'Hgts.' is the more common abbreviation.)
If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.
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 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.
Ridge Wood Heights is located in Sarasota County.
To see how the shape of Florida's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Sarasota County: Charlotte, DeSoto & Manatee.
Below are the counties that are near Ridge Wood Heights. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Ridge Wood Heights:
- Sarasota County (The home county of Ridge Wood Heights)
- The following are listed by their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- South Gate Ridge
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- South Gate Ridge is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Gate Ridge
- Southgate
(Less than 2 miles to the north)
- Southgate is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Southgate
- South Sarasota
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- South Sarasota is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Sarasota
- Bee Ridge
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Bee Ridge is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bee Ridge
- Pinecraft
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Sarasota Springs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Sarasota Springs is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sarasota Springs
- Gulf Gate Estates
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
- Gulf Gate Estates is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf Gate Estates
- Siesta Key
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Sarasota
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
- Lake Sarasota
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Lake Sarasota is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Sarasota
- Fruitville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Vamo
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Vamo is located in Sarasota County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vamo
- Charlotte County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- Manasota Key
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the south)
- El Jobean
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Grove City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Murdock
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Hillsborough County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- Fort Dade ‑ Historic
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
- Fort Dade is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Dade
- Sun City
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
- Park Village
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Park Village is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Village
- Bayou Pass Village
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Bayou Pass Village is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayou Pass Village
- Gulf City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Gulf City is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf City
- Manatee Harbor
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Manatee Harbor is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manatee Harbor
- Montero Village
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Montero Village is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Montero Village
- Ruskin
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Manatee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- Tallevast
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Longboat Key
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Whitfield
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Whitfield is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whitfield
- Lakewood Ranch
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Bayshore Gardens
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Bayshore Gardens is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayshore Gardens
- Oneco
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Samoset
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- Samoset is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Samoset
- South Bradenton
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- South Bradenton is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Bradenton
- West Samoset
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
- West Samoset is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Samoset
- Bradenton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Whitney Beach
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
- Bradenton Beach
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
- Pinellas County
- Tierra Verde
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Ridge Wood Heights, see our County-by-County Page for Ridge Wood Heights.
Cemeteries Near Ridge Wood Heights ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Ridge Wood Heights.
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.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Ridge Wood Heights - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Ridge Wood Heights covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- Sarasota Memorial Park
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
- Woodlawn Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Palms Memorial Park Gardens
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Palms Memorial Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Galilee Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Sarasota National Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Bethel Mennonite Church Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Manatee Memorial Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Braden River Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Major Adams Cemetery
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Venice Memorial Gardens
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
- Adams & Rogers Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams & Rogers Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Adams & Rogers Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Bradenton.
- The Adams & Rogers Cemetery has also been known as:
- Adams Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #1989096 <2>
- Continue List (14 more) ...
- Fogartyville Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Myakka Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
- Skyway Memorial Gardens
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
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.<3>
While we didn't find Ridge Wood Heights in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Ridge Wood Heights.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Ridge Wood Heights, with the one closest to Ridge Wood Heights listed first.
- Bradenton
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Manatee
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Manatee is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manatee
- Palmetto
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Ellenton
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Palma Sola
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Rye
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Rye is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rye
- Erie
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Erie is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
- Terra Ceia
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Sandy
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
- Sandy is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Grove City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
- Gulf City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Gulf City is located in Hillsborough County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf City
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Ridge Wood Heights. See our List of 1890's Communities around Ridge Wood Heights.
Newspapers Published in Ridge Wood Heights ...
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 24 newspapers that have been published in the area around Ridge Wood Heights.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Ridge Wood Heights, there are papers which were published within 21 miles [33.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Ridge Wood Heights.
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 websites either 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 Ridge Wood Heights:
- Websites specific to Florida
- Pages specific to Sarasota County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Charlotte County
- Hillsborough County
- Manatee County
- Pinellas County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Florida
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 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. |
| <3> | 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 Ridge Wood Heights, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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- Ridge Wood Heights) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |