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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 Sunshine Beach (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 Sunshine Beach. 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 Sunshine Beach ...

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 have occurred.

For example, a typical abbreviation for Sunshine Beach: Sunshine Bch.

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 southeast 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 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.

Sunshine Beach is located in Pinellas 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 Pinellas County: Hillsborough & Pasco.

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

  • Pinellas County     (The home county of Sunshine Beach)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
    • Treasure Island
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Madeira Beach
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Bay Pines
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • South Pasadena
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Pasadena have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Pasadena
      • South Pasadena is located in Pinellas County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,067 people
    • North Redington Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Redington Beach
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Seminole
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Kenneth City
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Redington Shores
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Saint Petersburg Beach
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Saint Petersburg Beach came from an uncertain source and they still need to be verified:<3>
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saint Petersburg Beach
      • Saint Petersburg Beach is located in Pinellas County
    • Gulfport
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Saint Pete Beach
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Hillsborough County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
    • Port Tampa
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Tampa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Tampa
      • Port Tampa is located in Hillsborough County
    • Bayport Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bayport Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayport Village
      • Bayport Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Bayside Village
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bayside Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayside Village
      • Bayside Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Culbreath Isles
      (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culbreath Isles
      • Culbreath Isles is located in Hillsborough County
    • Gulf City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf City
      • Gulf City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Manatee Harbor
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manatee Harbor
      • Manatee Harbor is located in Hillsborough County
    • Sun City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Barr City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barr City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barr City
      • Barr City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Culbreath Bayou
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Culbreath Bayou
      • Culbreath Bayou is located in Hillsborough County
    • Holiday Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Village
      • Holiday Village is located in Hillsborough County
    • Mecca City
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mecca City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mecca City
      • Mecca City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Rocky Point Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Point Village have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point Village
      • Rocky Point Village is located in Hillsborough County
  • Manatee County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
    • Anna Maria
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Terra Ceia
      (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Holmes Beach
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Palma Sola
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Bradenton Beach
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Memphis
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Memphis have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memphis
      • Memphis is located in Manatee County
    • Palmetto
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
    • West Bradenton
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Bradenton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Bradenton
      • West Bradenton is located in Manatee County
    • Cortez
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Bradenton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Ellenton
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • South Bradenton
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Bradenton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Bradenton
      • South Bradenton is located in Manatee County
  • Pasco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Sunshine Beach, with the one closest to Sunshine Beach listed first.
    • Holiday
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Trinity
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Beacon Square
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beacon Square have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beacon Square
      • Beacon Square is located in Pasco County
    • Elfers
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
    • Odessa
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast)

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

Newspapers Published in Sunshine Beach ...

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 38 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sunshine Beach.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sunshine Beach, there are papers which were published within 17 miles [27.4 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sunshine Beach.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we begin 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 Sunshine Beach:

Cemeteries Near Sunshine Beach ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sunshine Beach.

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

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

  • Bay Pines National Cemetery
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Bay Pines National Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Bay Pines National Cemetery
  • Woodlawn Memory Gardens
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Lincoln Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Royal Palm South Cemetery
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Park
  • Memorial Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Memorial Park
  • The Garden Sanctuary
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the The Garden Sanctuary have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the The Garden Sanctuary
  • Sunnyside Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Chapel Hill Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Chapel Hill Memorial Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Chapel Hill Memorial Park
  • Serenity Gardens Memorial Park
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • To give a relative sense of its location, the Serenity Gardens Memorial Park is a very large cemetery that is located in Anona.
    • The Serenity Gardens Memorial Park has also been known as:
    • Moss Feaster Serenity Gardens
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Serenity Gardens Memorial Park
    • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72605 <5>
  • Greenwood Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Greenwood Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Greenwood Cemetery
  • Eternal Light Mausoleums and Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Eternal Light Mausoleums and Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Eternal Light Mausoleums and Gardens
  • Continue List   (50 more) ...
    • Royal Palm North Cemetery
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Rousseau Pioneer Cemetery
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the Rousseau Pioneer Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the Rousseau Pioneer Cemetery
    • McMullen Cemetery
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for the McMullen Cemetery have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for the McMullen 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.<6>

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

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

  • Port Tampa
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Tampa have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Tampa
    • Port Tampa is located in Hillsborough County
  • Terra Ceia
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Gulf City
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gulf City
    • Gulf City is located in Hillsborough County
  • Palma Sola
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Palmetto
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Bradenton
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Ellenton
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Erie
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erie have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
    • Erie is located in Manatee County
  • Tampa
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tampa
    • Tampa is located in Hillsborough County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 407,599 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tampa <1>
  • Manatee
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Manatee have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manatee
    • Manatee is located in Manatee County
  • Ybor City
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ybor City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ybor City
    • Ybor City is located in Hillsborough County
  • Keystone Park
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Keystone Park have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone Park
    • Keystone Park is located in Hillsborough County
  • Peru ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peru have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
    • Peru is located in Hillsborough County

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

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

The official website for Pinellas County: www.pinellascounty.org/

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>If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<4>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sunshine Beach) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sunshine Beach. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 27.7770, Longitude: -82.7784       In this case, the coordinates for Sunshine Beach have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>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.
<6>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 Sunshine Beach, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024