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

Finding the Town of Origin
In order to research your family in their "old" country, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. You must know the city, town, or parish that they came from.

Important Tips
You must also know enough about the ancestor to positively identify him in the records. Dates (even if they are approximate), places, and familial connections are key to helping you decide if a person you find, who has the same name as your ancestor, really is your ancestor.


 * Do you know the name of his/her parents?
 * Do you know his/her birth, marriage, or death date or can you calculate an approximate range of years to search for his/her birth, marriage, or death?
 * Do you know the name of the spouse? Did they marry before or after coming to the United States?
 * Do you know the names of any of his/her siblings?
 * Do you know the names of any children born in before the family emigrated?

Search Home Sources
Thoroughly go over all home sources available to you, including family history papers, copies of records, pictures, old letters (i.e. with an old address), family bibles, journals/diaries, copies of vital record certificates and church records, memorabilia etc. Interview extended family and close relatives as well as former neighbors--all of which may prove very helpful in gathering as much knowledge about an ancestor as possible.
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part One: Home and Relative Sources
 * Gather Family Information

Emigration Questions to Ask Relatives
Find the oldest living relatives that you can and ask them:


 * 1)  What do you know about our first ancestor to immigrate? (open-ended)
 * 2)  Have you ever heard mention of towns in U.S. Virgin Islands where the family lived?
 * 3)  Do you have contact with any relatives in U.S. Virgin Islands?
 * 4)  Do you have contact with other branches of the family in other countries?
 * 5)  When _____________ came from U.S. Virgin Islands, did he travel with other family members?
 * 6)  Do you know when _________________ arrived and which port city?
 * 7)  Did _______________ever become a citizen?
 * 8)  Did_________________fight in World War I or II?
 * 9)  When they first came, were there already family members here who they joined?
 * 10)  Did_______________ever mention their parents in U.S. Virgin Islands?
 * 11)  Were they Catholic?
 * 12)  Do you have any old letters or postcards from U.S. Virgin Islands family?
 * 13)  Do you have any pictures of family members in U.S. Virgin Islands?

Search Genealogies Compiled by Others

 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Two: Online Family Tree Collections
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Three: Digitized Books
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Four: FamilySearch Wiki Tools

Make Sure You Found the Correct Entry for Your Ancestor

 * Make sure the person you found in U.S. Virgin Islands records left U.S. Virgin Islands. Look for them in marriage and death records of the same vicinity. See whether they have children a generation later in the vicinity. These things prove they remained in U.S. Virgin Islands and would rule them out as your ancestor.
 * Match any other relationships. If you already know the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names, make sure they match the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names of the person you are considering in the U.S. Virgin Islands records. The parents and grandparents will usually be listed in birth records found in church records or civil records. Search for siblings' birth records and any marriage before leaving U.S. Virgin Islands in the same index.
 * Study all available entries for that name born at the same approximate time, not just the first possible match you see.
 * Consider the coverage of the database you are using. Does it cover all of U.S. Virgin Islands? Or could there be many other records not covered that could hold your ancestor's record. For example, if the database is for just one province, there are 110 other provinces which could have your ancestor's record.
 * Make sure the details you have learned about the person after they immigrate have no discrepancies with the person you found in U.S. Virgin Islands records.

U.S. Virgin Islands Records Databases to Try

 * Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands Guided Research
 * U.S. Virgin Islands Civil Registration, government birth, marriage, and death records are available online for many provinces from the early 1800s to the early or mid-1900s. These records can name grandparents in addition to parents, and towns for residence and/or birth for both.
 * There are several U.S. Virgin Islands Church Records online.
 * See U.S. Virgin Islands Emigration and Immigration for records of U.S. Virgin Islandss immigrating, including some online digitized records and indexes.
 * See U.S. Virgin Islands Online Genealogy Records for other databases that might hold clues.

Records of the Country of Destination

 * Church Records: If your ancestor immigrated to a European or a South American/Hispanic country, church records can be detailed enough to identify a former residence or birthplace in the home country. These countries, unlike the United States, had state churches. In many countries, these state churches were used by the country to keep birth, marriage, and death records. Even though your ancestor was born in his former country, he may have married, and certainly died in his new country. Marriage and death records can state birthplace.
 * Civil Registration: Eventually, most governments began keeping birth, marriage, and death records. These tend to be quite detailed. Again, if your ancestor was possibly married and certainly died in their new country, those records can state birthplace.
 * Citizenship Records: If your ancestor became a full citizen, those records probably name birthplace and former residence.
 * Online Genealogy Records: See Online Genealogy Records by Location and find the online genealogy record page for your country to see other indexed collections that can be consulted.

Records to Search Created in the United States

 * U. S. Immigration Records: Finding the Town of Origin