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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 Westchase (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 Westchase. 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 Westchase ...

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: West Chase.

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 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 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.

Westchase is located in Hillsborough 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 Hillsborough County: Hardee, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas & Polk.

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

  • Hillsborough County     (The home county of Westchase)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westchase, with the one closest to Westchase listed first.
    • Fawn Ridge Village
      (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
      • Fawn Ridge Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fawn Ridge Village
    • West Waters Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • West Waters Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Waters Village
    • Indian Lakes
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Indian Lakes is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Lakes
    • Logan Gate Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
      • Logan Gate Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Logan Gate Village
    • Northlake Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
      • Northlake Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northlake Village
    • Eaglebrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Eaglebrook is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eaglebrook
    • Eastbrook
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
      • Eastbrook is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eastbrook
    • Canterbury Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Canterbury Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canterbury Village
    • Royal Troon Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Royal Troon Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Royal Troon Village
    • Mecca City
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Mecca City is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mecca City
    • Town 'n' Country
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Town 'n' Country is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Town 'n' Country
    • Twelve Oaks Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Twelve Oaks Village is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twelve Oaks Village
  • Hernando County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westchase, with the one closest to Westchase listed first.
    • Masaryktown
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
    • Timber Pines
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
      • Timber Pines is located in Hernando County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timber Pines
    • Hernando Beach
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Spring Hill
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Weeki Wachee Acres
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
      • Weeki Wachee Acres is located in Hernando County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weeki Wachee Acres
  • Pasco County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westchase, with the one closest to Westchase listed first.
    • Odessa
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Trinity
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Holiday
      (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Beacon Square
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Beacon Square is located in Pasco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beacon Square
    • Elfers
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Land O' Lakes
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • New Port Richey
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Port Richey
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Jasmine Estates
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Jasmine Estates is located in Pasco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jasmine Estates
    • Bayonet Point
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Fivay Junction ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Fivay Junction is located in Pasco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivay Junction
    • Fivay ‑ Historic
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
      • Fivay is located in Pasco County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivay
  • Pinellas County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Westchase, with the one closest to Westchase listed first.
    • Oldsmar
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • East Lake
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
      • East Lake is located in Pinellas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Lake
    • Safety Harbor
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Bayview ‑ Historic
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Bayview is located in Pinellas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bayview
    • Dunedin
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Palm Harbor
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Cove Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
      • Cove Springs is located in Pinellas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cove Springs
    • Tarpon Springs
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Crystal Beach
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Ozona
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Feather Sound
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • High Point
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
      • High Point is located in Pinellas County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point

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

Cemeteries Near Westchase ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Westchase.

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 Westchase - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Westchase covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

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

  • Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Oak Grove Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Lake Carroll Cemetery
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Parklawn Cemetery
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Curlew Hills Memory Gardens
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Dunedin Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • McMullen Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • American Legion Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Marti Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Rose Hill Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Cycadia Cemetery
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Parklawn Memory Gardens
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Continue List   (75 more) ...
    • Dunedin Highland Memorial Park
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Woodlawn Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Beth Israel Cemetery
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beth Israel Cemetery
      • To give a relative sense of its location, the Beth Israel Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located in Tampa.
      • The Beth Israel Cemetery has also been known as:
      • Rodeph Sholom Cemetery
      • Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #2425075 <2>

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 Westchase in the Atlas, the following 1895 communities would have been found near the current location of Westchase.

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

  • Keystone Park
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Keystone Park is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone Park
  • Odessa
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Tampa
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Tampa is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tampa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 407,599 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tampa <1>
  • Ybor City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Ybor City is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ybor City
  • Port Tampa
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Port Tampa is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Tampa
  • Port Richey
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Ehren
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Ehren is located in Pasco County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ehren
  • Thonotosassa
    (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Mango
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
  • Limona
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Limona is located in Hillsborough County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Limona
  • Seffner
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
  • Hudson
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (11 more) ...
    • Peru ‑ Historic
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Peru is located in Hillsborough County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peru
    • Brandon
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Valrico
      (23 miles [37 km] to the east)

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

Newspapers Published in Westchase ...

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 4 newspapers that have been published in the area around Westchase.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Westchase, there are papers which were published within 3 miles [4.8 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Westchase.

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 helpful 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 Westchase:

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 Westchase, 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Westchase) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.