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

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of an index to to passenger arrivals in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the years 1906 to 1952. It corresponds with NARA publication A3404 and A3407. Be aware the images are grainy; some are difficult to read.

Sample Image
The index to passenger lists usually includes the following information:


 * Full name of immigrant
 * Name of person accompanying immigrant
 * Age, gender, race and occupation of immigrant
 * Nationality of immigrant
 * Last permanent residence (town, country)
 * Destination
 * Port of entry and date of arrival
 * Name of the vessel
 * Document numbers

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the full name of your ancestor and the approximate date of immigration. If you do not know this information, check the census records after 1900.

Search the Collection
To search by index: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

To browse by image: If you did not find the person you were looking for, you may need to search the collection by image. ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "NARA Roll Number - Contents" which takes you to the images.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

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 can 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 your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors. 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 extention.*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.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names 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 landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection citation:

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation: