VI Passenger Lists - And a Tempting Clue

Some of the most useful records for US genealogy are the Passenger Lists that show when the first immigrants came to Ellis Island, Castle Garden, or some other US port city.  These same records show VI researchers when their ancestors left the islands and came to the US (probably New York).  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were similar records showing movement to and from the Virgin Islands?

Turns out, there are.  Many people don’t realize that the Danish Archives in Copenhagen hold some very similar records.  These records were microfilmed and eventually imaged to DVD on to a set of 34 discs and several copies were given in 2011 as a gift to libraries on the Virgin islands, Puerto Rico, and Tortola. 
Copies of the collection are available at:

• Von Scholten Collection at Enid M. Baa Public Library, St. Thomas, USVI
• Caribbean Genealogy Library, Al Cohen’s Plaza, Raphune Hill, St. Thomas, USVI
• Territorial Archives at Florence Williams Public Library, Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI
• Whim Research Library and Archives, St. Croix Landmarks Society, St. Croix, USVI
• Special Collections at Elaine Ione Sprauve Public Library, St. John, USVI
• Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Genealogía, Universidad Interamericana de Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
• Archives and Records Management Unit of the Deputy Governor's Office, Road Town, Tortola, BVI

The collection includes arrivals, departures, and passport information.

• DVD 01-03 Christiansted Police Station – Registers of Persons arriving and Leaving 1794-1847
• DVD 04-17 St Thomas Police Station – Persons arriving 1805-1899
• DVD 18-33 Registers of Passports 1810-1895
• DVD 34 – Registers for Visaing for Foreign Passports 1856-1873

As I wrote in a 2011 post, An Early Christmas from the CGL, I received a copy of the Christiansted records and pored over them.  They were helpful in identifying my g-g-grandfather, Christian Conrad from Flensburg. 

Recently, I went through the discs again and found many travels from family members.  In fact, I may have gotten a lead on the father of my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Aletta Quickly.

Mary Aletta Quickly’s Father

Mary Quickly was born in 1808 and her baptismal record only names her mother, Grace Welcome.  Searches of census and other registers have never produced anyone with the surname Quickly who could have been Mary Aletta’s father.  While perusing the arrivals and departures I noted an entry for 1798 of someone listed only as Quickly arriving in St Croix from St Thomas.

Detail from December 1798 St Croix Arrivals showing someone named "Quickly"

Later lists show a CS Quigley traveling from St Croix to St Thomas on 8 July 1807.  Even more interesting, I located a pair of records that show that Mary Aletta’s mother, Grace, traveled from St Croix to St Thomas on 11 Aug 1807 and returned on 26 Aug 1807. 

Mary Aletta Quickly was baptized on 11 Sep 1808 with no recorded birth date nor father listed.  Could the CS Quigley have been her father and her name misremembered by Grace as “Quickley”? Could she have been conceived on St Thomas during this trip? 

August 1807 Christiansted Departure record of Grace Welcome to St Thomas

While this is only speculation, it is interesting.  The dates certainly line up. If true, then Mary Aletta would have been born around May1808 and was 3 months old at her baptism.  This would have been entirely within the normal practice for the Lutheran church in St Croix.  Children were often baptized weeks or months (occasionally even years) after their birth.

Unfortunately, I don’t have copies of the St Thomas lists to compare, so finding the matching arrivals will have to wait.  Perhaps there is a notation of where Grace Welcome stayed when she came to St Thomas for two weeks.  Perhaps I can find out more about this mysterious CS Quigley/Quickley on St Thomas.  That will have to wait. Meanwhile, I found about 100 references to my family in the Christiansted set, so I have a lot of work to do.