Information on the four Florida historical cemeteries was compiled by Bernard Kouchel, President, Jewish Genealogical Society of Broward County, P.O. Box 17251, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33318 Jacksonville: WILLEY CEMETERY, JACKSONVILLE, DUVAL CO. The Old Union Cemetery (Willey Cemetery) at Union and Washington Streets was the principal cemetery from 1853 until 1880. When six Jews died of yellow fever in 1857, the Hebrew Cemetery section was founded. It was the first recorded Jewish community institution in the State of Florida. A record of all burials in the cemetery, so far as is known, was found in Compilation of Available Data On Old City Cemetery by T. Kurd Kooker, 1923. Included are records of the section known as the Hebrew Cemetery, evidently taken from monuments. Six more Jewish names were found in a D.A.R. record compiled in 1955. Key West: CITY CEMETERY, KEY WEST, MONROE CO. At Windsor Lane, this 2nd oldest cemetery in the state was founded 1865. Congregation B'nai Zion, Florida's first congregation (since 1877) owns a section, with an entrance on Francis Street. Early graves date to 1880s. All records are in the sexton's office at main gate. Addresses;- City Cemetery, Windsor Lane, Key West FL 33040 Cong. B'nai Zion, 750 United Street, Key West FL 33040 Maimi: CITY CEMETERY, MIAMI, DADE CO. Located at 1800 N.E. 2nd Avenue, between N.E. 18th and 19th Streets. Established in 1897. Walled in Jewish section was acquired in 1915 by B'nei Zion (founded 1912, later Beth David) congregation. Over 100 Jews are buried there. Earlier, Jews were buried in Jacksonville. This is the fourth oldest cemetery in the state. Burials are listed in Miami City Cemetery: Burials 1896-1990, published by The Genealogical Society of Greater Miami, 1991, P.O. Box 162905, Miami, FL 33116. Address: Beth David, 2625 S.W. 3rd Avenue, Miami FL 33129. Pensacola: BETH-EL CEMETERY, PENSACOLA, ESCAMBIA CO. Located between Q and R Streets, with main entrance on Cervantes Street. This ten acre cemetery was presented to the Jewish community in 1876 by Sam Goldbach and provided a basis for the congregation (since 1869), to build Temple Beth-El in 1878. This is the third oldest cemetery in Florida with over 400 graves and with burials dating back to 1877. The Pensacola Jewish community has recorded all known burials there. Address: Temple Beth-El, 800 North Palafox Street, Pensacola FL 32501. ORLANDO area All Faiths Memorial Park, 331-1910. "Garden of David", 1390 Park Drive, Casselberry. Under auspices of Baldwin-Fairchild, site purchased in 1978. Chapel Hill, 898-1111/671-391?. 2400 Herrell Rd., Orlando. Auspices of Baldwin-Fairchild. Glen Haven, 647-1100. off Temple Dr., Winter Park. (Beth Am). Under auspices of Baldwin-Fairchild. Greenwood Cemetery, 246-2616. City of Orlando; office open daily, 7:30-4:00. Began in 1880. All files are open. Go to name file first; next to Property Cards file, to see what persons are buried on the site owned by someone. Files do not designate Jewish. Directions: Take I-4 to Anderson St., travel east on Anderson to Mills. Turn right on Mills. Go down Mills; sign to Greenwood Cemetery will be on Mills, turn left onto Greenwood St., follow to cemetery. Highland Memory Gardens, 869-1188. 3329 E. Semoran Blvd., Forest City. Under auspices of Baldwin-Fairchild. See below. Ohev Shalom, 298-4650. Old Winter Garden Rd. On computer, see Cher in the office. Plots and numbers on plots. Probably can get a computer printout from Cher if she has enough time ahead. Don't know what the earliest date is. Ohev as a congregation began in 1918. (Ron Shader is in charge of cemetery). Oaklawn Cemetery. 898-8111. Lake Mary. Auspices of Baldwin- Fairchild. Pleasant Hill. St. Cloud (Fisk Funeral Home). Recent burials (Manny Adams). Rose Hill Cemetery. Kissimmee. Recent burials (Manny Adams). Temple Israel, 647-3055. Woodlawn "Beth Israel" section. Julien Meiten, leave message. Call at his business. First burials in 1959. Consecrated land. Records are in file cabinets somewhere in the synagogue. There are ordered alphabetically, by purchaser. Sometimes someone else purchased the site. Would be glad to go out to cemetery with any of us. Go on East-West Expressway, western extension. Get off at Good Homes Rd, which goes into Old Winter Garden Rd. Go one block to Woodlawn Cemetery. Go along the left side, which is Cemetery Rd. Continue to the first clay road, Morton-Jones Rd. About one-quarter mile on the left is the cemetery. Woodlawn, 293-1361. Congr. of Liberal Judaism section. Beth Israel. Woodlawn has all the records. Liberal was formed in 1950. Speak to Ed Kennedy. Haven't gotten back to him yet. See Temple Israel for directions. It is opposite Temple Israel Cemetery. additional information UNIV. of CENTRAL FLA. LIBRARY: Special Collections Division, 5th floor; Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. See Dr. Lee. Records from Carey-Hand Funeral Home, which was THE only funeral home in central Florida until the late 1930s. They are accessible, include date of death, place buried, funeral accouterments; parents' names. RELIGION WAS NOT STATED, BUT THE NAME OF THE REVEREND IS INCLUDED AND WHETHER THE BODY WAS SHIPPED OUT OF TOWN. Includes these counties: Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Brevard. (Courthouse in Orlando was destroyed in the 1900s and these are the only records.) Funeral records June 15, 1891 - Dec. 30, 1952. June 15, 1891 - Dec. 31, 1918, include undertakers memoranda, entries by date. Records show burial in Orlando, Tavares, etc., but not the designated named cemetery, e.g. Orlando, Section A or B. State age of deceased, cause of death, if known. Jan. 1, 1919-Dec. 30, 1952. These are bound volumes with an alphabetical index in the front. By checking the number of the 'ledge' page, more information can be gleaned, such as funeral items, reverend, cause of death, parents' names, where body was to be shipped, etc. For example: Book #23: #416: Morris Goldberg, body shipped, parents born in Russia, a Wolf Goldberg. Cremation records: June 1925-Dec. 1949 are typed in alphabetical order (two lists), name, address. One bound volume veterans and Orlando Air Base records: Jan. 10, 1938-Mar.18, 1952. Names entered on a daily basis; not indexed. Carey-Hand was the only funeral home until the 1930s. A Guy Black started another one in 1930s. His widow, Mrs. Eiselstein, a member of the Methodist Church, is still living in downtown Orlando. Mr. Franklin bought it. He still works for Carey-Hand. Carey-Hand. 647-1941. Keeps current files on premises. Older files are stored. We can, with permission, go in to the files and get information. See Les Dyer. Baldwin-Fairchild. Nancy Garlanger, Director of Administration, 301 N.E. Ivanhoe Blvd., Orlando, FL 32804. They own two cemeteries (see above). All information about cemeteries is privileged. If we were to write a formal letter, and/or contractual agreement, they would carefully consider our request for information, probably negotiating some kind of agreement. They do have all graves marked, and maps, but for anyone to get that information, a formalized agreement needs to be reached. During the 1970s and 1980s Nancy estimated they were involved in 70 to 80 percent of all Jewish burials. (I told her that we were gathering information only at this point, and that she might not hear from me for even another year. Her concern was for the "kooks" in this world, and to verify that we are, in fact, the Jewish Genealogical Society.) Nancy emphasized that Orthodox burials were under Ohev Shalom or Temple Israel. FUNERAL HOMES From information supplied by Mr. Franklin of Carey-Hand, Colonial About 1885, there was a Richards and Hand Embalmers, which became Hand when Richards left. The records from Carey-Hand began in 1890 and are at the UCF library. Elijah Hand died in 1915. About 1890 there was an Armstrong which didn't stay too long. They were in the area until the 1920s. The original Hand business was furniture and embalmers. The building was built across the street from the furniture store. Some time later the building was put up on Pine St. It remained there until it was sold to the City of Orlando for a parking garage. At that time it became Carey-Hand Colonial and Cox-Parker, in two locations. (Mr. Franklin mentioned a date of 1946, maybe that was when some of the name changes came, uncertain.) Carey Hand took over the Garden Chapel which had been owned by Olden G. Fairchild. Sometime in the late 1930s there was an Eiselstein- Wigginton, which existed first in St. Cloud and then came to Orlando. They were taken over by W. Guy Black and it became known as W. Guy Black Funeral Home , about 1958. They lasted until six years ago, about 1986. Carey Hand took over the pre-arrangements that W. Guy Black had at the time Black closed. The whereabouts of the records may or may not be known. (Suggestion: speak again to someone in charge at Carey- Hand ... see Les Dyer). A Robert Fisk at the Fisk Funeral Home in St. Cloud is a nephew of Eiselstein, and he had a written history of some of this information. (Also track down Mrs. Eiselstein, see above.) Fairchild began in the 1940s, but later Olden Fairchild was killed. It is now known as Baldwin- Fairchild. CEMETERIES These were mentioned by Mr. Franklin as being significant. Need to be looked into. Palm Cemetery, Winter Park Winter Garden Beulah (?) Oakridge Old Cemetery in Christmas, FL