Using cemetery data to reconstruct immigration and migration patterns: St. Michael's Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida

This study examines the St. Michael’s Cemetery database, which contains information on grave markers from historic St. Michael’s Cemetery, and investigates the possibility of using the information contained in the database to study immigration and migration patterns in Pensacola, Florida, from 1821 to 1950 with regard to specific industries. A sample from the St. Michael’s Cemetery database was selected and compared with census data for Pensacola from 1850 and 1880. The goal of this comparison was to discover any trends that might indicate the degree to which people immigrated or migrated to Pensacola for specific industries. The data suggests the presence of a correlation between immigration and migration from specific places and the growth of local industry that corresponds to economic and historical events.