A little background about "The Copeland Papers". I found this information on microfilm at the public library in Naples, Florida while I was doing some genealogy research. The actual records are much larger than I have here, and go into the very early history of Florida. I wanted to copy what I thought would be helpful to me, but the stories were so fascinating that I just kept copying. There is quite a bit of information about many families who lived in the Collier County area during the late 1800's, early 1900's. The information is compiled from books, newspaper articles, county records and family histories written by some of the earliest residents of Collier County. At the time, I really had no idea who compiled this information. I knew that Charlton Tebeau, who wrote many books about Florida, has a series of books that are part of "The Copeland Studies in Florida History". I had also read that one of the counties earliest settlers, David Graham Copeland, wrote an unpublished history of early Collier County which Mr. Tebeau used as the basis for his book "Florida's Last Frontier, The History of Collier County". In the early 1970's, my aunt Gloria Durfey while researching Cape Romano and the artesian well that is located there, wrote to Mr. Tebeau and in his answer he told her about the Copeland Papers and that he had donated the research notes to the Historical Society and that is how they found there way to the library. The Copeland Papers, are part of his research notes. If you are interested in the early history of Collier County, or lucky enough to be part of one of the families mentioned in these papers, you will be amazed at the information found here. And who knows...you might be able to solve a few family mysteries. I know I did!

Tebeau correspondence with Gloria Durfey

A word of caution... that these are not the best copies. They came from microfilm, but I believe are still very readable. These series of pages are in the exact order as I copied them, and no pages are left out. The stories are fragmented and don't always follow a particular order. Also, this file is a pdf and is quite large, 103 pages, so I split it up into 10 semi-equal parts to make it easier to load. Email me at chrisdurfey@comcast.net if you have any questions, but remember, I only have the information contained in these papers, nothing else unless it involves my family. I am part of the Weeks, Nash, Raulerson, Brown and Kirkland families, and related by marriage to many others. Happy hunting...

The Copeland Papers Part 1