U.S. Virgin Islands Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

 * 1672-1917 Selected records of the Danish West Indies, 1672-1917 : essential records concerning slavery and emancipation, images.
 * 1779-1921 St. Croix, Danish West Indies, Denmark, Records of Enslaved and Free People, 1779-1921 at Ancestry, ($), index and images.
 * 1794-1899 Danish West Indies Passenger Records:
 * Finding Aid
 * Christiansted Police Station. Registers of Persons Arriving and Leaving Passengers. 1794-1847. DVDs 01-03, images.
 * St. Thomas Police Station. Registers of Persons Arriving 1805-1899. DVDs 04-17, images.
 * St. Thomas Records Relating to the Registers of Passports. 1810-1885. DVDs 18-33, images.
 * St. Thomas Registers of Passports for Departing Individuals. 1810-1895. DVDs 18-33, images.
 * St. Thomas Registers of Visaing of Foreign Individuals. 1856-1873. DVD 34 images.


 * 1812 British Aliens in the United States During the War of 1812 at Ancestry, ($), indexed.
 * U.S. National Archives Transfer-Era Document Digitization Project
 * 1895-1921 Passports Issued 1895-1921. When ownership was transferred to the US, passports were issued to the residents.
 * 1917-1923 Passport Correspondence 1917-1923: Applications and Correspondence for travel Identity Cards from 1917-1923


 * 1885-1962 U.S., Virgin Islands, Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1885-1962 at Ancestry, ($), index and images.
 * 1906-1947 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1918 U.S. Virgin Islands, Applications for Travel Identification Cards, 1918 at Ancestry ($), index and images.

U.S. Virgin Islands Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Background

 * The Danish West India Company settled on St. Thomas in 1672 and St. John in 1694, later purchasing St. Croix from France in 1733. The islands became royal Danish colonies in 1754, named the Danish West Indian Islands.
 * The islands proved ideal for sugar plantations – sugarcane, produced by slaves from Africa, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It is estimated that by 1775, slaves outnumbered the Danish settlers by a ratio of 8:1.
 * Slavery was abolished in 1848, now celebrated as Emancipation Day. With the plantations no longer as profitable, Danish settlers began to abandon their estates, causing a significant drop in population and the overall economy.
 * During the submarine warfare of the World War I, the United States, fearing that the islands might be seized by Germany as a submarine base, approached Denmark about buying them. After a few months of negotiations, a selling price of $25 million was agreed. The deal was finalized on January 17, 1917.
 * In 2010, the racial makeup of the U.S. Virgin Islands was:
 * Black or Afro–Caribbean: 76.0% (66.1% Non-Hispanic Black)
 * White: 15.7% (13.5% Non-Hispanic Whites)
 * Hispanic or Latino of any race: 17.4% (10.3% Puerto Rican, 5.4% Dominican)
 * Asian: 1.4%
 * Mixed: 2.1%
 * Other: 4.5%


 * Many residents can trace their ancestry to other Caribbean islands, especially Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles'. The territory is largely Afro–Caribbean in origin.

For Further Reading
There are additional sources listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:
 * Ancestors from the West Indies: A Historical and Genealogical Overview of Afro-Caribbean Immigration, 1900-1930s