Florida Genealogy Search

Florida family history spans Spanish, British and American periods, and the records reflect it: Catholic parish registers from St. Augustine dating to 1594, the oldest in the country, Spanish land grant papers, and then the county records that began as Florida's counties formed from 1821 onward. The State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee holds the state's records, and the state censuses of 1885, 1935 and 1945 fill gaps between federal counts, the 1885 census substituting for the lost 1890 federal one.

Florida's Death Index from 1877 to 1998 and its statewide marriage index from 1927 are free online, which makes twentieth century Florida research faster than in most states.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Florida statewide genealogy links

• dos.myflorida.comSearch Complete Holdings of Florida Archives
• State Library and Archives of Florida Genealogy CollectionGenealogy Collection of Florida Archives
• Florida State Archives Collections and DatabasesResearch Collections of Florida Archives
• Florida State Archives and Libraries SearchFlorida Archives and Libraries Search
• Florida Memory Collection World War I Service CardsFlorida World War I Service Card Archives
• Florida Memory Archives Collection of Confederate Pension Application FilesFlorida Confederate Pension Applications
• Publication of Archival Library and Museum Materials, State University Libraries of Florida palmm.digital.flvc.org Florida Libraries Archival Materials
• State Library of FloridaLibrary Genealogical Resources
• USGenWeb Archives FloridaSearch Florida GenWeb Archives
• National Archives Southeast Region for FloridaFlorida Genealogy Research at the National Archives

Florida began statewide birth registration in 1899 and death registration in 1899 as well, though both were incomplete until 1917, and the Florida Department of Health's Bureau of Vital Statistics in Jacksonville holds the certificates. Death records become public 50 years after the death, and the Florida Death Index covering 1877 to 1998 is free online. Birth records are restricted for 100 years. Marriage licenses were issued by each county's clerk of court from the county's founding, and the state has a marriage index from 1927 and a divorce index from 1927 as well.

• Florida Bureau of Vital StatisticsBirth, death, marriage and divorce certificates from 1899, checked September 25, 2026
• State Archives of FloridaSpanish land grants, state censuses, county records and Florida Memory, checked September 25, 2026
• Florida Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and the public death index

The State Archives holds the 1885, 1935 and 1945 state censuses, Spanish land grant claims from 1763 to 1821, Confederate pension applications from 1885 onward, World War I service cards, Florida state prison registers, and county records on microfilm, and its Florida Memory site puts many of them online free with name indexes. The federal censuses for Florida begin in 1830. The National Archives at Atlanta holds Florida's federal court, naturalization and Seminole War records, and the P.K. Yonge Library at the University of Florida holds Spanish colonial records and the Florida Digital Newspaper Library.

• Florida MemoryFree digitized state censuses, pensions, land grants and photographs, checked September 25, 2026
• National Archives at AtlantaFederal court, naturalization and military records for Florida, checked September 25, 2026
• Bureau of Land Management General Land Office recordsFederal land patents for Florida from 1825 onward, checked September 25, 2026
• FamilySearch Florida research guideFree indexed Florida records and images, checked September 25, 2026

Florida's clerks of the circuit court are the county recorders as well as the keepers of probate, marriage, divorce and civil case files, so one office in each of the 67 counties holds deeds, wills, estates and marriage licenses from the county's founding. Nearly every clerk posts an official records index online, and many have digitized deed books back to the 1800s. Courthouse fires destroyed early records in Hernando, Lafayette, Marion and several other counties, and the State Archives' microfilm and the Spanish land grant files are the substitutes.

• Florida County Public RecordsClerks of court and official records for all 67 counties
• Florida Court RecordsCircuit court case and probate searches

These federal and national sources complement Florida's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when Florida state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

NARA, National Archives The federal government's primary archive. Holds the U.S. census (1790, 1950), ship passenger lists, naturalization records, military service files, and land entry files.

FamilySearch Free online genealogy platform operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Digitized microfilm copies of many county and state records worldwide.

Library of Congress, Local History & Genealogy The LoC's research guides, city directories, newspapers, and Civil War records, most accessible free online through loc.gov.