Orange County, FloridaEdit This Page
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Florida Orange County
Guide to Orange County Florida genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
| Orange County, Florida | |||||||||
| Map | |||||||||
 Location in the state of Florida | |||||||||
 Location of Florida in the U.S. | |||||||||
| Facts | |||||||||
| Founded | 1824 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County Seat | Orlando | ||||||||
| Courthouse | |||||||||
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Contents |
County Courthouse
Orange County Courthouse
425 N Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32801-3547
Phone: 407.863.6321
Formerly Mosquito County, name was changed to Orange 30 Jan 1845.
Clerk Circuit Court has marriage records from 1890,
court and probate records from 1869. [1]
History
Parent County
1824--Before 1824, all of Florida was divided into two counties, Alachua to the west and St Johns to the east. In 1824, the area of St Johns County from south of Jacksonville to the Lake Okochobee area was split off to become Mosquito County. When Florida achieved statehood in 1845, the county was renamed Orange County. Later, other counties were created from Orange County -- Seminole, Osceola, others. From 1824 to 1845, the county seat was Enterprise. The current county seat is Orlando.
County seat: Enterprise 1824-1845; Orlando 1845-present [2]
Boundary Changes
Record Loss
1868 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.
For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:
Places / Localities
Populated Places
Neighboring Counties
Resources
Cemeteries
A listing of cemeteries in Orange County, with a survey of some of them, can be found at the Orange County GenWeb site.
BillionGraves:
- Greenwood Cemetery, Orlando
- Ocoee Cemetery, Ocoee
- West Orange Memorial Gardens, Ocoee
- Winter Garden Cemetery, Windermere
Census
For tips on accessing Orange County, Florida census records online, see: Florida Census.
Church
Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Florida denominations, view the Florida Church Records wiki page.
LDS Ward and Branch Records
- Orlando
Court
Search Orange County criminal cases here.
Civil court cases can be searched here.
Land
Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.
See Florida Land and Property for additional information about early Florida land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.
Search 1843-2009 land records by grantee or grantor names or search by book and page number at this Web site. You can even view and print the images! Click "I Accept" to get to the search page.
Local Histories
Local histories are available for Orange County, Florida. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section Florida Local Histories.
Maps
Map and statistics about Orange County can be found here.
Military
Newspapers
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Orange County, Florida newspapers in online catalogs like:
- WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
- Do a Orange County, Florida Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).
Probate
Probate records are held by the Orange County, Florida Clerk of Court and are housed at the Orange County, Florida Courthouse. Microfilmed records can be found online at Florida Probate Records, 1784-1990. See the wiki page Florida Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.
Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.
Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, and adoptions.
Search probate records Online here.
Taxation
Taxes were levied on free white males over 21 and slaves aged 21 to 60. These persons are referred to as "polls." Tax listings, or digests, of a county generally list the taxable landowners and other polls and the amount of tax. The records for each county are divided by militia district. For more information see the wiki page Florida Taxation.
Vital Records
Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.
For some online statewide indexes, see the FamilySearch Historical Record Collections for Florida.
- 1869-1909 - Orange County Marriages 1869-1909 can be found at http://cfgs.org/mar1fwd.htm. These were published by the Central Florida Genealogical Society.
- 1869-1927 - Orange County Marriage Books 1-8 Index 1869-1927 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.[3]
Societies and Libraries
The Central Florida Genealogical Society, Inc represents genealogists from the Central Florida area. The Society meets monthly September through May. A Daytime Group and the Computer Interest Group meet bi-monthly year round. The Society produces a monthly newsletter, Treasure Chest News, and a quarterly journal, Buried Treasures. There is also a yearly conference or seminar.
Family History Centers
- Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
- Orlando Florida Family History Center
- Orlando Florida Hunters Creek Family History Center
- Orlando Florida South Family History Center
Web Sites
- USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
- Family History Library Catalog
- Orange County, Florida Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
- Orange County, FLGenWeb Project, Inc.
- Central Florida Genealogical Society, Inc
References
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Orange County, Florida Page 136 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
- ↑ Genealogical Society of Utah, Parish and Vital Records List (July 1998). Microfiche. Digital version at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/3/3f/Igifloridamz.pdf.
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- This page was last modified on 13 June 2013, at 01:38.
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