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 Sweetwater (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 Sweetwater. 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 Sweetwater ...
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.
Another variation: Sweet Water.
You might be interested in other communities that are also named Sweetwater. More information can be found on our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Sweetwater.
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 northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors and hospitals were in the next county to the west. 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 west 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.
Sweetwater is located in Hardee 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 Hardee County: DeSoto, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee & Polk.
Below are the counties that are near Sweetwater. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Sweetwater:
- Hardee County (The home county of Sweetwater)
- The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Crewsville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Crewsville is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
- Zolfo Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Wauchula
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Ona
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
- Bowling Green
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- DeSoto County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Calvinia ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
- Arcadia
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Nocatee
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Fort Ogden
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Highlands County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Sebring
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
- Avon Park
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- De Soto City
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)
- De Soto City is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for De Soto City
- Alpine
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Alpine is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
- Placid Lakes
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
- Placid Lakes is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Placid Lakes
- Lake Placid
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
- Sylvan Shores
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- Sylvan Shores is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sylvan Shores
- Archbold
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Archbold is located in Highlands County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Archbold
- Lorida
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
- Manatee County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Sandy
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Sandy is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Duette
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Myakka City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
- Polk County
- The following are listed by their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Pittsburg
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Pittsburg is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pittsburg
- Fort Meade
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Frostproof
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
- Oponys Town ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the north)
- Oponys Town is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oponys Town
- Brewster ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Brewster is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brewster
- Crooked Lake Park
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Crooked Lake Park is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooked Lake Park
- Homeland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Hillcrest Heights
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the north)
- Hillcrest Heights is located in Polk County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest Heights
- Population from the 2020 Census: 305 people
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Sweetwater, see our County-by-County Page for Sweetwater.
Cemeteries Near Sweetwater ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Sweetwater.
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 Sweetwater - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Sweetwater covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Oak Creek Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)
- Coker Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Whitten Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Prescott Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Wauchula Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wauchula Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Wauchula Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the south of Wauchula.
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #72732 <2>
- Oak Grove Cemetery
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Hart Cemetery
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
- Lamp Grounds Cemetery
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
- Lakeview Memorial Gardens
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview Memorial Gardens
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Lakeview Memorial Gardens is located 3 miles [4.8 km]<3> to the south of Avon Park.
- Oak Ridge Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Joshua Creek Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Bougainvillea Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (25 more) ...
- Corinth Cemetery
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corinth Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Corinth Cemetery is located 7 miles [11.3 km]<3> to the northwest of Avon Park.
- The Corinth Cemetery has also been known as:
- Bereah Cemetery
- Corinth Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2242863 <2>
- Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Pinecrest Cemetery
(18 miles [29 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.<4>
While we didn't find Sweetwater in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Sweetwater.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Sweetwater, with the one closest to Sweetwater listed first.
- Crewsville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
- Crewsville is located in Hardee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crewsville
- Calvinia ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Calvinia is located in DeSoto County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Calvinia
- Zolfo Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Wauchula
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Arcadia
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bowling Green
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
- Avon Park
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
- Pine Level
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Pine Level is located in DeSoto County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Level
- Nocatee
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
- Fort Meade
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
- Sandy
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
- Sandy is located in Manatee County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sandy
- Fort Ogden
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
- Homeland
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Sweetwater. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sweetwater.
Newspapers Published in Sweetwater ...
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 34 newspapers that have been published in the area around Sweetwater.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Sweetwater, there are papers which were published within 27 miles [43.5 km]<3>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Sweetwater.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we first visit 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 Sweetwater:
- Websites specific to Florida
- Pages specific to Hardee County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- DeSoto County
- Highlands County
- Manatee County
- Polk 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Sweetwater) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Sweetwater, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |