Cocoa Florida Family History Center

The Cocoa Florida Stake Family History Center serves Brevard County Florida area. The County is located in the east central part of Florida and extends for seventy miles from its northern county line with Volusia County, to its southern county line shared with Indian River County. The Library is located centrally in the county giving patrons close access to I-95 or US #1.

Center Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * Location Map

Address:


 * 1801 South Fiske Blvd Rockledge FL 32955-3003 United States
 * Family History Center is located in the back.
 * Entrance door is near the large antenna.


 * Language:English

Phone: 1-321-636-2431

E-mail: FL_Cocoa@familyhistorymail.org

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday: 9:00am-1:00pm and 6:00pm-9:00pm
 * Wednesday: 6:00pm-9:00pm
 * Thursday: 9:00am-1:00pm and 6:00pm-9:00pm
 * Friday: 9:00am-1:00pm
 * Closed: Saturday, Sunday, Monday
 * The Center may close early if there are no patrons. Please call if you are arriving late.

Holiday Schedule:

'''Call to verify our schedule. We are generally closed Thanksgiving week, during the weeks of Christmas and New Years Holidays and on July 4th.'''

Microfilm Orders:

'''Microfilm Orders have been discontinued. Films ordered previously are still available at the Family History Center until further notice. If you have questions about your film or film orders, please call during our regular working hours shown above.'''

Upcoming Events

 * In honor of African American History month, Cocoa, Florida Family History Center staff and other family historians will be at Central Brevard Library in Cocoa Saturday, February 22nd, 9 am - 12 am, and Sunday, February 23rd, 1 - 4 pm. Meet one-on-one to get started on your family tree, using FamilySearch.org to document, preserve, and share your ancestral lines.  This free website helps build your tree by matching historical records with your ancestors.  No appointment necessary - just visit during the hours posted.  Bring a laptop if you have one!   Collect instructions to help you research at home.

Center Resources
Collections

The genealogical collection of Louise A Hilditch which is also online at http://hilditchproject.com. Ask to see "The Hilditch Project".

Databases and Software


 * FHC Portal This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the center to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

These sites are the ones that you may access free in the Center:


 * www.ancestry.com: The largest for-profit genealogy website. Access thousands of collections of worldwide records, including birth, marriage, death, census, immigration, naturalization, military, newspaper and periodicals, family trees, photos and images, directories, maps, court, land, wills and financial records, stories, memories and histories.
 * www.fold3.com (formerly Footnote.com): This website has refocused its efforts on gathering the best online collection of military records and stories.
 * http://alexanderstreet.com: indexed website of four million American Civil War soldiers, including photographs, letters, diaries, and memoirs.
 * www.heritagequestonline.com: search records back to the 1700s, including census 1790-1930, books with over 24,000 family and local histories, PERSI (2.1 million genealogy and local history articles), Revolutionary War including pension and bounty-land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank including name index and images for African American depositors, dependents and heirs; and U.S. Serial Set (memorials, petitions and private relief actions of the US Congress.
 * www.godfrey.org: US and international resources including extensive collection of city and business directories, vital records, military lists; state, county and local histories; numerous family histories, family Bible records, service and pension records, African American newspapers, church and cemetery records.
 * www.newspaperarchive.com: world’s largest online newspaper archive, featuring billions of articles from historical international newspapers. Discover obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles and more to fill in the life stories of your ancestors.
 * http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/: searchable database of the British Library’s newspaper holdings of 48 national and regional newspapers, 1800 to 1900.
 * www.worldvitalrecords.com: 1.2 billion names and 11, 000 data bases to search for birth, marriages, deaths, divorce, public, newspaper, court, and military records; wills, biographies, gravestone photos, yearbooks, maps, family histories and more.
 * www.findmypast.co.uk: research UK ancestry using census including the 1911 Census for England and Wales, birth, marriage and death records, and create your family tree.
 * thegenealogist.co.uk: English parish records, directories, census, civil registration, surname mapping, and selected Army and Navy lists.
 * www.genline.com: Swedish church records from the 1600s to 1897, and civil registration from 1860-1897. Later records, to the 1930s are being added.
 * www.proquest.historicmapworks.com: digital map collection of 470,000 historic maps.
 * www.genealogytoday.com: documents of 19th Century westward American migration.

Hardware and Equipment


 * Ten computers
 * Microfilm and microfiche readers, plus a scanner for making copies and copying photos directly to your FamilySearch account.
 * You may print to paper or save to your USB drive.
 * Note: (Minimal charge for paper copies)

Boy Scout Genealogy Merit Badge assistance
Temple and family history consultants are available during the center's open hours to assist scouts to accomplish some of the requirements for the Genealogy merit badge.

Family Discovery Days
The center will host Family Discovery Days - providing a private meeting place for families (usually multi-generational) to relax and discuss family history. Often, older family members will tell stories and what it was like for them growing up. Children and grand-children will sometimes record these stories to help them remember their older family members. A temple and family history consultant will be available if there is a need to enter or check information online. Call the Family History Center during open hours or 321-633-6331 to schedule a time.

Private Family History gatherings
Retirement homes, other institutions and clubs may schedule private meeting times to work on family history. Temple and family history consultants will be available to assist when needed. Call the Family History Center during open hours or 321-633-6331 to schedule a time.

Staff Research Specialties
The staff does not do your research for you, but will help you in planning and executing your search.

Each of our Volunteers is knowledgeable in the use of the online databases offered. Some have more experience in selected areas than others. For instance, one volunteer is excellent in English and German research. Another has a vast knowledge of Swedish records and where to located these records. All of our volunteers are familiar with US records, but may be better locating records in certain States, than another. One volunteer is great at organizing records and can help you with saving records on your computer. You will need to keep some order to your finds.

From beginner to experienced researchers, we all need help and our volunteers are here to help.

Resources in the Local Area
Brevard Genealogical Society P.O. Box 1123 Cocoa, FL 32923-1123 www.flbgs.org/

Genealogical Society of North Brevard P.O. Box 897 Titusville, FL 32781-0897 http://nbbd.com/npr/gsnb/

Genealogical Society of South Brevard P.O. Box 786 Melbourne, FL 32902-0786 www.gssb.net/

Brevard County Libraries Genealogy Collection www.brev.org/pages/research/family/index.php

Florida Historical Library 435 Brevard Avenue Cocoa, FL 32922 Phone: 321-690-1971 Fax: 321-690-4388 myfloridahistory.org/

Links
The US GenWeb Project: The FlGenWeb Project: Brevard www.flbrevard.com/

Brevard County FLGenWeb Project, Inc www.fl-genweb.org/west/brevard/index.html

Brevard County, Florida Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium) www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/FL/Brevard/

Genealogical Database of Louise A Hilditch -- Approximately 55,000 family groups arranged by family name