Since it’s summer, most of my free time is devoted to the old “honey-do” list and I have been lax in both blogging and genealogy. I haven’t been as energized as I would like, so I was thrilled to receive this email from a blog reader:
I have been looking into Genealogy recently in St Croix and stumbled across your blog that is probably the most informative thing I have found.Well James, I wanted to give you something to help for your trip. While I certainly didn’t do an exhaustive research job since time is short, I think I found some things that will help your search in St Croix considerably.
I have been looking into a little bit a family mystery. We have not known much about my Great grandfathers Brother (I guess my great -great uncle). Only that he left Denmark and died in the Caribbean. Since I last looked into it a few years back there was not much available on the internet. A couple of seeks ago, I tried again and found quite a bit. His Gravestone on find a grave (his name is Jacob Sorensen). He died a shoemaker in 1874 after at least 25 years on the island. I am not sure how common it was for soldiers to stay on during the Danish period
What I have been able to find through census records, Visha and Ancestry, is that he was married (something that we did not know). I would like to find the marriage license. I would also like to find any christening records (to see if there are any distant cousins out there).
What I also find intriguing is that I believe his wife (Elizabeth Block)would have been descended from Slaves because her mother's name was Ancilla Benners. I have read that Ancilla means Slave girl in Latin. I would love to find out more about them.
The reason I am writing is that I will be going to St Croix for a few days in a couple of weeks. It is a family trip but I am hoping I will have a little time to do some research. I live in Salt Lake City so I do have access to resources but I am wondering if you might have any suggestions on where I might be able to visit in St Croix to find a little bit more about my relatives.
Sorry for the long e-mail. thanks James