Orange County, Florida Genealogy

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

United States   Florida    Orange County

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.

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

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
1868 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged. For a list of record loss in Florida counties see: Florida Counties with Burned Courthouses

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


 * Burned Counties Research
 * http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=2424

Neighboring Counties

 * Brevard
 * Lake
 * Osceola
 * Polk
 * Seminole
 * Volusia

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

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Orlando

Court
Search Orange County criminal cases here.

Civil court cases can be searched here.

Land
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.

Maps

 * Maps of Florida (1821-1997)
 * Map and statistics about Orange County can be found here.

Probate
Search probate records Online here.

Vital Records

 * 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.

Societies and Libraries

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

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

 * Orlando Florida Family History Center
 * Orlando Florida Hunters Creek Family History Center
 * Orlando Florida South Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Orange County, FL History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Florida Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Florida Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Orange County, Florida Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Orange County, FLGenWeb Project, Inc.
 * Central Florida Genealogical Society, Inc
 * Central Florida Genealogical Society, Inc