Fernandina death and burial records now part of the Florida Memory Project

Press Release
Amelia Island Museum of History
www.ameliamuseum.org
Submitted by Teen Peterson
Collections Manager
June 8,  2015 1:00 a.m.

About 2.5 years ago, then City Planner Adrienne Burke formed a group to create a cemetery master plan for Bosque Bello, the city cemetery for Fernandina Beach located on North 14th Street. The group included city staff, interested citizens including representatives of the Amelia Island Museum of History, the Amelia Island Genealogical Society, and the Historic District Council. As the representative for the Amelia Island Museum of History, I was charged with compiling a history of Bosque Bello.

While researching information for the master plan, we came across a box of records in the City vault. The box contained the records of the Cemetery for the years 1896 to 1916. The caretaker of the Cemetery submitted monthly reports of burials to the City listing such information as date, name, color, sex, nativity, descent, age, marital status, occupation, cause of death, name of physician or midwife, location, cemetery, remarks, and signature of the superintendent of the cemetery or occasionally of the president of the Ladies Cemetery Association. These were fairly large douments, usually 12 “ wide by 8 “ in height. Interestingly, these records contained a real surprise: among the 197 monthly reports were 817 certificates of death.

We expected to find the monthly reports but certificates of death are filed with the health department. However, the State did not begin the keep these records until 1917. Before then certificates of birth and death were often kept in County files. Each certificate of death was 8” X 5 “, handwritten on a pr

We were very fortunate to make contact with the Florida State Archives and we asked for their suggestions on what to do with the reports and certificates of death. They recognized their importance and offered to include them in the Florida Memory Project. The Florida Memory Project website presents a selection of digitized historical records that illustrate significant moments in Florida history, education resources for students of all ages and archival collections for historical research.

We were very pleased to accept their offer and so the City of Fernandina agreed to loan the documents to the State Archives for the purpose of scanning and creating a database with the information. This was facilitated by the Amelia Island Museum of History. The originals have since been returned to City Hall. So now everyone can view them at: https://www.floridamemory.com/collections/fernandinaburial/ The collection is named Fernandina Death & Burial Records, 1896-1916 and can be browsed by surname, date and cause of death.

Why are these records important? The majority of them record the deaths of citizens, primarily African-American, for whom we have no records of a gravesite. The Amelia Island Genealogical Society has done extensive work recording information from Bosque Bello cemetery and other cemeteries in Nassau County, which can be accessed at http://www.aigensoc.org/.

We now need to look at the data and understand its importance to the history of Fernandina. Anyone interested in participating in exploring and evaluating any aspect of the data should contact Teen Peterson at [email protected]. Information on the Bosque Bello master planning effort can be accessed at www.fbfl.us/bosquebello.

We were very pleased to accept their offer and so the City of Fernandina agreed to loan the documents to the State Archives for the purpose of scanning and creating a database with the information. This was facilitated by the Amelia Island Museum of History. The originals have since been returned to City Hall. So now everyone can view them at: https://www.floridamemory.com/collections/fernandinaburial/ The collection is named Fernandina Death & Burial Records, 1896-1916 and can be browsed by surname, date and cause of death.