Footprints of the Forgotten: Florida Records Project
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  • African American
    • Pioneer Famiies
    • Slavery
    • Peonage
    • Communities
    • Youth
    • Historic Cemeteries
    • Cemeteries, obits, deaths
    • Churches
    • Reconstruction & Beyond
  • Indigent-Pauper-Unclaimed
  • Institutionalized
  • Children Institutions &
  • Prisoners
  • Black Seminole
  • Seminole
  • The Minorcans
  • Early East Asian Pioneers
  • Trigger Warning Records
  • Death Records 101
  • Locating Records 101
  • Amazing Resources!
  • More
    • Home
    • African American
      • Pioneer Famiies
      • Slavery
      • Peonage
      • Communities
      • Youth
      • Historic Cemeteries
      • Cemeteries, obits, deaths
      • Churches
      • Reconstruction & Beyond
    • Indigent-Pauper-Unclaimed
    • Institutionalized
    • Children Institutions &
    • Prisoners
    • Black Seminole
    • Seminole
    • The Minorcans
    • Early East Asian Pioneers
    • Trigger Warning Records
    • Death Records 101
    • Locating Records 101
    • Amazing Resources!
Footprints of the Forgotten: Florida Records Project
  • Home
  • African American
    • Pioneer Famiies
    • Slavery
    • Peonage
    • Communities
    • Youth
    • Historic Cemeteries
    • Cemeteries, obits, deaths
    • Churches
    • Reconstruction & Beyond
  • Indigent-Pauper-Unclaimed
  • Institutionalized
  • Children Institutions &
  • Prisoners
  • Black Seminole
  • Seminole
  • The Minorcans
  • Early East Asian Pioneers
  • Trigger Warning Records
  • Death Records 101
  • Locating Records 101
  • Amazing Resources!
Logo for Footprints of the Forgotten Florida Records Project with tombstone, palm tree, and cabin.

Welcome

historic records & research of Florida's marginalized communities

historic records & research of Florida's marginalized communitieshistoric records & research of Florida's marginalized communitieshistoric records & research of Florida's marginalized communities

 African America, Pauper/Indigent, Prisoners, Seminole, Institutionalized, Black Seminole, and more!

What are Fringe Historical Records?

About this collection

I conduct ongoing research on unmarked burials and undocumented cemeteries across the state of Florida. In the course of this work, I frequently encounter and receive Florida records and historical documents that hold significant value for genealogists, historians, preservationists, and anyone interested in exploring Florida history and understanding its past.


My research focuses primarily on historical records pertaining to historically marginalized people, including African Americans, enslaved individuals, leased convicts, paupers, indigents, those institutionalized, inmates, and unclaimed or unidentified remains.


Many of these individuals were excluded from official histories, and their burial sites and life records are often incomplete, overlooked, neglected, or at risk of being lost.


If you have records, research, family knowledge, maps, burial lists, institutional documents, or other genealogy resources that you are willing to share, I welcome hearing from you. 


Collaboration and community knowledge are essential to this work. I believe these records should be shared and preserved—not hidden or forgotten. By documenting and making this information accessible, we help ensure that these individuals are remembered with dignity, and that their histories, particularly within Black history, are not lost to time. Thank you for remembering these individuals with me!  Sarah

My Blog

Record Collections

Slavery

Green family outside their home in Wakulla County, Florida | Florida Memory

Explore a wealth of resources including wills, probate records, deeds, ship manifests, and court records that are essential for understanding Black history and Florida history. Additionally, discover Florida records, free ebooks, research papers, plantation records, and advertisements searching for family, along with many more valuable genealogy resources and historical records!

Browse

Early African American Communities

Eatonville City Council posing in front of jail.

Explore a wealth of resources including photos, land records, school records, and free eBooks that delve into Black history and Florida history. You'll also find maps, early phone books, directories, and various Florida records to assist with your genealogy resources and research into historical records.

Browse

African American Churches

African American Pioneer Families

A group of people gathered around a body of water for a baptism ceremony.

Explore WPA records of early churches, along with historical photos 

Browse

African American Pioneer Families

African American Historic Cemeteries

African American Pioneer Families

Unknown Gentleman, Leesburg, FL

Early African American settlers. Research, interviews, family trees, photos, records

Browse

African American Historic Cemeteries

African American Historic Cemeteries

African American Historic Cemeteries

Headstone of Mamie Larkin, Larkin Cemetery, New Smyrna Beach

Historic African American Cemetery research, death certificates, Master site files, funeral home records.

Browse

African American Youth

African American Historic Cemeteries

African American Historic Cemeteries

Unidentified girl, Eatonville | Library of Congress

Programs, schools, and industrial schools play a significant role in understanding Florida history, especially when exploring Black history. 

Browse

African American : Reconstruction & Beyond

Drawing depicting a Freedmen’s Bureau agent standing between white and Black Americans, 1868 | Libra
Browse

Black Seminole

Abraham | Library of Congress

Explore tribal rolls, military reports, and delve into research on Black history and Florida history. Discover invaluable Florida Records, genealogy resources, historical records, free eBooks, and more!

Browse

Seminole

Prisoners

Seminole Americans, Everglades, Florida, ca 1927. Photo from Library of Congress.

Explore a wealth of resources including wills, probate records, deeds, ship manifests, and court records that are essential for understanding Black history and Florida history. Additionally, discover Florida records, free ebooks, research papers, plantation records, and advertisements searching for family, along with many more valuable genealogy resources and historical records!

Browse

Prisoners

Prisoners

Convict laborers | Library of Congress

Convict lease, camp, and prisoner records. Physician reports, punishment reports, current prison population information and more!

Browse

Indigents & Paupers

Children of poor migrant labor family, Belle Glade | Library of Congress

Public records requests for indigent and pauper burials, cemetery inventories, welfare reports, cemetery and funeral records.

Browse

The Minorcans

Minorcans , St Augustine | Florida Memory

Focus on the Minorcan  indentured servants of the Turnbull colony of New Smyrna

Browse

Institutionalized

Florida State Hospital men's Ward | Florida Memory

admission records, cemetery records, death certificates, mortician ledgers,  reports, and more

Browse

East Asian Pioneers

Lue Gim Gong with his pet rooster March in DeLand, Florida | Florida Memory

early settlers, family trees, notable pioneers, interviews,  photos, and more

Browse

Children's Institutions, Orphanages, & Reform schools

Children's Institutions, Orphanages, & Reform schools

Children's Institutions, Orphanages, & Reform schools

Church on African American Campus of the Arthur G Dozier School for boys

Arthur G Dozier school for boys, orphanages, and more

Browse

TRIGGER WARNING RECORDS

Children's Institutions, Orphanages, & Reform schools

Children's Institutions, Orphanages, & Reform schools

A red trigger warning sign advising careful reading.

 Descriptions of abuse, sexual abuse and extreme violence. Discretion is advised

Browse at your own risk

Death Records 101

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

An ancient leather-bound book titled 'Death Records' with skull decorations on a wooden table.

Death records 101 - types, where to find them, understanding them, and discovering clues!

Learn More

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

A skeleton in a top hat smokes a pipe sitting on a tree branch with a crow.

Guide to Finding records for the Skeletons in your family tree and a list of amazing free African American Resources

Learn More

Links to Amazing Resources

Skeletons in the Family Tree: Locating Records

Links to Amazing Resources

An open magical book glowing with light and sparkles on a wooden table.
Learn More

Ways to Help

Hand holding a magnifying glass over an old, stained paper.

Share your Research and Records

Share your Research and Records

Share your Research and Records

Do you have a record or some research you would like to share? Please let me know!  **This is a free website and I believe these records should be in the public domain, I am not interested in buying records. **

I’ve got something to Share!
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Share a Great Resource

Share your Research and Records

Share your Research and Records

Share a great resource and I will gladly add it to our collection! 

Submit a Resource

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Sign up to stay informed when new historical records, including those related to Black history and Florida history, have been added to our genealogy resources and Florida records!

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