(18-1) RESEARCH: Cocoa Tribune Death Report Index

Bonnie and Jim are creating an index of the death reports carried by the Cocoa Tribune newspaper. This newspaper was first published in March 22, 1917, and printed the obituaries, funeral notices and death reports of the local area up until April 1966, when these notices were transferred to the Florida Today newspaper. Almost all issues of the Cocoa Tribune newspaper are available on microfilm. They are scanning the microfilm images of the Tribune, page by page, writing down the name, age, date of publication and page number of all death reports. These are then entered into a computer database. They are working backward in time, beginning with the April, 1966 issue. In order to keep the files fairly short, we have broken them into five year blocks. So far, three of these blocks have been transcribed. After transcription and proofreading, we upload a copy of the file to Roots Web, and make a print copy for Michael Boonstra for use in the Genealogy Department of the Central Brevard Library and Reference Center. We also give our webmaster a copy of the file on computer disk. She then posts the file on several other Internet sites.The index can be found, in print form, in the Genealogy Department of Central Brevard Library and Reference Center. Look on top of the filing cabinet containing the Microfilm collection of the Cocoa Tribune newspaper.The index can also be found on the Internet at: http://rootsweb.com/~flbgs/ Click on Research, then Obituaries. Browsable. http://userdb.rootsweb.com/regional.html#Florida Click on the link to the Cocoa Tribune. Searchable. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/fl/toc/brevard.htm Scroll down to Deaths. Browsable.

JIM and BONNIE GARMON
BGS Research Committee