Bradford County, Florida Genealogy

United States   Florida    Bradford County records.

Guide to Bradford County, Florida ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Bradford County Courthouse PO Box B; Starke, FL 32091-1286; Phone: 904.964.6280 Formerly New River County Name changed to Bradford 6 Dec 1861; County Clerk has marriage records from 1875, probate and court records from 1892 and land records from 1876

History
Named for Captain Richard Bradford who was killed in the American Civil War's Battle of Santa Rosa Island.

Parent County
New River County was created on December 21, 1858 from Columbia County by an act of the Florida Legislature. December 6, 1861 New River County was divided into two counties. The new county was named Baker County and New River's name was changed to BRADFORD County in honor of Captain Bradford who was killed in the Civil War.

In the 1860 New River population was 3,820 In 1861 the population was virtually halved by the carving of Baker from New River. The 1870 Bradford County's population was 1,325 people and the decrease was not due to a massive migration away from the area, but due to Bradford having been split into several Counties. County seat: Starke

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Florida county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Florida County Boundary Maps" (1821-1997) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
1865 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged. 1875 -- A second courthouse was burned in 1875.

For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Burned Counties Research
 * Burned Counties, by Michael John Neill

Populated Places
Brooker | Hampton | Lawtey | Starke| Clayno | Graham | Hampton Beach | Heilbronn | New River | Pleasant Grove | Sampson | Saxton | Theressa

Neighboring Counties
Alachua •  Baker  •  Clay  •  Putnam  •  Union

Cemeteries
Cemetery Records of Florida

Census
1860 Federal Census Slave Schedule

The includes sex, age, relationship, occupation, place of birth of each family member and parents; also census for agriculture, and mortality.

Population
The following information was provided by the U.S.Census Bureau.


 * 1860 --- 3,820
 * 1870 --- 3,671
 * 1880 --- 6,112
 * 1890 --- 7,516
 * 1900 --- 10,295
 * 1910 --- 14,090
 * 1920 --- 12,503
 * 1930 --- 9,405
 * 1940 --- 8,717
 * 1950 --- 11,457
 * 1960 --- 12,446
 * 1970 --- 14,625
 * 1980 --- 20,023
 * 1990 --- 22,515
 * 2000 -- 26,088

Maps



 * Maps of Florida (1821-1997)

Newspapers

 * Bradford County Telegraph - full-text issues from 1895-1910 on the Library of Congress, Chronicling America website
 * Bradford County Telegraph - full-text issues from 1888-2009 digitized by the University of Florida

Probate
Online Probate Records
 * 1784 – 1990 at FamilySearch — images
 * 1810 – 1974 Florida Wills and Probate Records 1810-1974 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Birth Records

 * 1880 - 1935 at FamilySearch.org — index

Death Records

 * 1877 - 1939 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1900 - 1921 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1877 - 1998 at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce Records

 * 1927 - 2001 Florida, Divorce Index, 1927-2001 at Ancestry.com — index $

Marriage Records

 * 1837 - 1974 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1830 - 1993 at FamilySearch.org — index/images
 * 1822 - 1875 and 1927 - 2001 at FamilySearch.org — index/images
 * 1875-1885 - Bradford County Marriage Books A thru C 1875-1885. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1875-1901 - Bradford County Marriage Books A thru C 1875-1901. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1901-1916 - Bradford County Marriage Books D thru F 1901-1916. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1901-1916 - Bradford County Marriage Books D thru F 1901-1916. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1901-1916 - Bradford County Marriage Books D thru F 1901-1916. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1916-1927 - Bradford County Marriage Books G and H 1916-1927. Batch at FamilySearch - free.

Societies and Libraries

 * List of Florida Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Family History Centers

 * Starke Florida Family History Center
 * Stuart Florida Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Bradford County, FL History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Florida Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Florida Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Bradford County FLGenWeb Project, a member of The FLGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * Bradford County, Florida Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Bradford County FLGenWeb Project, Inc.
 * Bradford County FLGenWeb Project, Inc.