United States, Virgin Islands Index to Passenger Arrivals - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What Is in the Collection?
This collection corresponds with NARA publications A3404 and A3407, both of which are passenger index lists. Publication roll A3404 serves as an index to the series “Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, July 16, 1907- May 12, 1923” (ARC Identifier 2953525) and “Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, June 5, 1925 to-June 30, 1948” (ARC Identifier 2953511).

Publication roll A3407 consists of microfilmed index cards, which contain passenger list information for ships arriving at Honolulu 1900-1952 (ARC identifier 4493348).

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
The card index to passenger lists may include some or all of the the following information:
 * Full Name(s) of immigrants
 * Immigrants' age, gender, marital status and occupation
 * Physical description
 * Birthplace or Nationality of immigrant
 * Country where immigrant holds citizenship
 * Last place of residence in that country
 * Name(s) of person(s) accompanying immigrant
 * Name of relative or friend living at last residence
 * Name of relative or friend to be visited in this country
 * Final destination of immigrant
 * Name of ship and port of departure
 * Ship's arrival date and port of entry

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to know:


 * All or part of the name of the person you are looking for
 * The approximate date of immigration.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in your ancestor’s name on the search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. '''View images in this collection by visiting the Collection page and selecting the browse images link at the bottom of the page. Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information could lead you to additional records and family members. Be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct. If the person you are looking for has an uncommon las name, you may want to collect the information of other passengers who share the same last name who also share the same country of origin. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about the person you are interested in finding. Please note that when you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page of the record. You may need to click on the "previous" or "next" links to view the remaining pages of the full manifest. Use passenger lists to:
 * Access the original passenger or manifest list
 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Search the passenger lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have immigrated at the same time.
 * Use the information to find your ancestors in Censuses. These can help you find additional family members.
 * Use the age in the record to find an approximate birth year, which will help you find a birth or death record. Sometimes a person is buried in a city or town in which they did not die, so it is not always accurate to assume that a burial place is the same as a death place. The name of the undertaker or mortuary could lead you to funeral and cemetery records, which often include the names and residences of other family members. If a family member was buried in a church cemetery, it may mean they were members of that congregation, and their existing church records should be examined.
 * Use the preferred religion, to find local church records. For example, if your ancestor was Catholic, you can try looking online at the Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records to find a christening, marriage or burial of your ancestor or their children. Church records were usually kept before government records, making them a necessary resource in pedigree extension.*Repeat this process with additional family members found to find more generations of the family.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc.
 * Standard spelling typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes of other port cities.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the Collection page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used. Collection citation: Record citation (or citation for the index entry): Image citation: