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 Silver Springs (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 Silver Springs. 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 Silver Springs ...
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.
For example, a typical abbreviation for Silver Springs: Silver Spgs. (or less commonly used: Silver Spngs. or Silver Sprngs.)
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Silver Springs. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Silver Springs.
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 northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and 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.
Silver Springs is located in Okaloosa 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 Okaloosa County: Covington (AL), Escambia (AL), Santa Rosa & Walton.
Below are the counties that are near Silver Springs. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Silver Springs:
- Okaloosa County (The home county of Silver Springs)
- The following are listed by their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Garden City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Garden City is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden City
- Crestview
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
- Milligan
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Cannon Town
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
- Cannon Town is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon Town
- Baker
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Laurel Hill
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Holt
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
- Svea
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
- Svea is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Svea
- Otahite ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Otahite is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otahite
- Niceville
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Valparaiso
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
- Eglin Village
(23 miles [37 km] to the south)
- Eglin Village is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eglin Village
- Santa Rosa County
- The following are listed by their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Belandville ‑ Historic
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Belandville is located in Santa Rosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Belandville
- Harold
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)
- Walton County
- The following are listed by their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Mossy Head
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Paxton
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- De Funiak Springs
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east)
- Pleasant Grove
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
- Pleasant Grove is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Grove
- Portland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Portland is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
- Argyle
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Union
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)
- Union is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union
- Covington County (AL)
- The following are listed by their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Wing
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
- Wing is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wing
- Falco
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Falco is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falco
- Lockhart
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Lockhart is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockhart
- Population from the 2020 Census: 497 people
- Florala
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Red Oak
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)
- Red Oak is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Oak
- Carolina
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Carolina is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carolina
- Population from the 2020 Census: 294 people
- Libertyville
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Libertyville is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libertyville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 110 people
- Escambia County (AL)
- The following are listed by their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Bradley
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Bradley is located in Escambia County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bradley
- Roberts
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Roberts is located in Escambia County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Silver Springs, see our County-by-County Page for Silver Springs.
Cemeteries Near Silver Springs ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Silver Springs.
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 Silver Springs - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Silver Springs covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Live Oak Cemetery
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
- Springhill Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
- Cobb Cemetery
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Griffith Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)
- Mt. Olive Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Reeder Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Beulah Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Hart Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
- Old Dorcas Cemetery
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
- Stewart Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Carr Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
- Rock Hill Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (78 more) ...
- Almarante Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Clary Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Crowder Cemetery
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
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 Silver Springs in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Silver Springs.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Silver Springs, with the one closest to Silver Springs listed first.
- Mossy Head
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Otahite ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Otahite is located in Okaloosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otahite
- Beda
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
- Beda is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beda
- Gordon
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
- Gordon is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
- Ealum
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- Ealum is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ealum
- Florala
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
- Rome
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Rome is located in Covington County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rome
- Roberts
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the northwest)
- Roberts is located in Escambia County (AL)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roberts
- Berrydale
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Berrydale is located in Santa Rosa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berrydale
- Portland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
- Portland is located in Walton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portland
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Silver Springs. See our List of 1890's Communities around Silver Springs.
Newspapers Published in Silver Springs ...
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 47 newspapers that have been published in the area around Silver Springs.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Silver Springs, there are papers which were published within 28 miles [45.1 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Silver Springs.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first turn to 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 Silver Springs:
- Websites specific to Florida
- Pages specific to Okaloosa County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Santa Rosa County
- Walton County
- Covington County
- Escambia 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 Silver Springs, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Silver Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |