Welcome to Florida Genealogy Trails!

Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by
transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers.



This County Website is available for Adoption.



WANT TO HELP?
We're looking for folks who share our dedication to putting data online and are interested in helping this project be successful. If you are interested in joining our group, view our Volunteer Page for further information.
[A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage is required.]

We'll be happy to help your families' obituaries, news items and other historical data find a home here at Florida Genealogy Trails, where it will remain free for all to view.



WE REGRET THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO DO PERSONAL RESEARCH FOR YOU.
ALL DATA IS ADDED TO THE SITE AS WE COME ACROSS IT, SO KEEP CHECKING BACK!



Pinellas County
Founded: January 1, 1912
Named for Punta Piñal (Point of Pines)
County Seat: Clearwater
Largest city: St. Petersburg


Pinellas Co. Courthouse, postcard
Clearwater, Fla.
built in 1918

Early Spanish explorers named the area Punta Piñal meaning Point of Pines or Piney Point. Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821, and in 1823 the U.S. Army established Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa. Much of west central Florida, including the Pinellas peninsula (known as West Hillsborough), was organized as Hillsborough County.

Odet Philippe, a French Huguenot, became the first permanent, non-native resident of the peninsula in 1842. He settled
160 acres near the site of the Tocobaga village in Safety Harbor and introduced both citrus culture and cigar-making to Florida. Philippe Park is the site of his former plantation.

Around 1835, the United States Army began construction of Fort Harrison as an outpost during the Seminole Wars. The fort was located on a bluff overlooking Clearwater Harbor. The Armed Occupation Act, passed in 1842, encouraged further settlement of the peninsula. Clearwater became the first organized community on the peninsula and the site of its first post office.

John K. Cheyney founded the first local sponge business in Tarpon Springs in the 1880s. The sponge industry grew throughout the 1890s. Many people from Key West, the Bahamas, and Greece settled in Tarpon Springs to work in the sponge industry. In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs by recruiting divers and crew members from Greece. The sponge industry soon became one of the leading maritime industries in Florida and the most important business in Tarpon Springs.

Tarpon Springs became West Hillsborough's first incorporated city in 1887, and in 1888 the Orange Belt Railway was extended into the southern portion of the peninsula, the railroad's terminus was at St. Petersburg.

Construction of Fort De Soto, on Mullet Key facing the mouth of Tampa Bay, was begun in 1898 during the Spanish-American War to protect Tampa Bay from potential invading forces. The fort, a subpost of Fort Dade on adjacent Egmont Key (which lies in the mouth of Tampa Bay), was equipped with artillery and mortar batteries.

On January 1, 1912, Pinellas County was created. The peninsula, and a small part of the mainland were incorporated into the new county. Among the towns that were already incorporated at this time were: Tarpon Springs, in 1887: Clearwater, in 1891; St. Petersburg, in 1892; Dunedin, in 1899; Largo, in 1905; Gulfport, in 1910; Pass-a-Grille, in 1911; Pinellas Park, in 1913; and Safety Harbor, in 1917. Other settled communities included Indian Rocks (on the mainland), Oldsmar, Sutherland (Palm Harbor), Ozona, the Crystal Beach, Wall Springs, Seminole, Oakhurst areas, Harbor Bluffs and Anclote areas.


Don CeSar Hotel
St. Pete Beach, Fla.
opened in 1928

Cities
Belleair Beach • Belleair Bluffs • Clearwater • Dunedin • Gulfport • Indian Rocks Beach • Largo •
Madeira Beach • Oldsmar • Pinellas Park • Safety Harbor • Seminole • South Pasadena •
St. Pete Beach • St. Petersburg • Tarpon Springs • Treasure Island

Towns
Belleair • Belleair Shore • Indian Shores • Kenneth City • North Redington Beach •
Redington Beach • Redington Shores

Other Communities
Bardmoor • Baskin • Bay Pines • Bear Creek • Crystal Beach • Curlew • East Lake • Feather Sound •
Gandy • Greenbriar • Harbor Bluffs • Highpoint • Innisbrook • Lealman • Oakhurst • Ozona •
Palm Harbor • Ridgecrest • St. George • Seminole Park • South Highpoint • Tierra Verde • Wall Springs •
Walsingham • West Lealman

Surrounding Counties
Pasco (north)
Hillsborough (east and south)
Manatee (south, across the bay)


SEARCH OUR SITES

Contact Us

Submit an Obituary
with our automated form


Join our Genealogy Trails Southeastern States Mailing List
to get email notices when our sites are updated.

For the Southeastern States of :
 North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia • Florida




Visit our Florida State Site

Visit our National Site



Copyright © Genealogy Trails 2025
All data on this website is Copyright by Genealogy Trails with full rights reserved for original submitters.
No data is to be copied to other websites without permission.