The Virgin Islands at War

Painting of the Bombardment of Copenhagen

As regular readers probably know, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately going through the latest Ancestry.com St Croix collection (St Croix Death Records).  There a dozens of collections of records, comprising hundreds of documents.  One of these is a 32-image collection entitled “Free Male Inhabitants 1807”.  This sounds useful (who can’t use a list of Inhabitants from any particular year), but while it isn’t exactly what it seems, the document is actually much more interesting than that.

While Ancestry’s name of the collection certainly appears to be an accurate description (the people listed are free, male, live on St Croix, and it was for the year 1807), this isn’t a document of a census or a complete listing of free people.  The list is only adult males, children aren’t recorded.  Also it doesn’t appear to be comprehensive.  It appears that there are names missing from this document.  As a quick check, I looked at some burgherbriefs issued in 1806 and early 1807, figuring that those people would likely still be on island.  A Charles Ferdinand Wass, born in London, received his brief in December 1806 yet does not appear in the “List of Inhabitants” a year later.  Neither does an Alexander Instant, born in Scotland.  I also couldn't find Stephen Wheeler, born in North America, yet he received his brief in July 1807.

How useful is a “List of Inhabitants” that doesn’t show all the “Inhabitants”?   Well, not very, until you notice what the list really is.  To do that, I need to digress and discuss a bit of Virgin Island history that isn’t as well known as it should be.  It is a time when world events reached across the Atlantic to the little Danish islands and brought significant changes, affecting our families and their lives forever.

St Croix Death Records on Ancestry.com

When I began searching for my family there were very few records available online for St Croix. 

The best online collection was the St Croix census.  There were indexes at the Danish Demographic Database (http://www.ddd.dda.dk/ddd_en.htm) and VISHA (http://stx.visharoots.org/db.html) and images on Ancestry.com. 

There were a few church records on FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/) and the copy of NARA’s Colored People records M-1883 on Fold3 (which has since been posted to Ancestry.com). 

That was about it.

St Croix Records Back on Ancestry After a Year

Long time readers will remember that back in May 2012 Ancestry posted a large collection of records from the Virgin Islands (see my post, New Virgin Islands Records on Ancestry.com) and then, a week later, yanked them down. (See Virgin Islands Records Vanished from Ancestry.com).  Well, mostly, they’re back.  Hopefully to stay.

Ancestry.com Source Citations for VI Census

One of the most troublesome aspects of genealogy, and a cause for much discussion, is formatting source citations for all those records. This is perhaps one of the most frustrating and intimidating aspects of genealogy for beginners and intermediate level genealogists, so many people give up and just use whatever websites like Ancestry.com suggest.  Unfortunately, this really doesn’t work very well for the St Croix census on Ancestry.  Since I’d like to do my genealogy right, I have been spending considerable time to try to figure out what’s the best, and most useful, way to format my citations in my database. 

New Online Records: St Croix and St Thomas

This week I ran across three new resources for VI research that should be of considerable help to island researchers. These include an indexed collection, a new entry to Ancestry’s offerings, and a secret back-door entry into some census records from the Danish Archives.

Top 10 Sources for your Virgin Island Roots

Back when I began my search for my Virgin Island roots I found it hard to figure out where to start looking for information.  There are many books and blogs about record types and sources for US and European genealogy, but nothing that really talks to the wealth of documentation on the Danish West Indies.  In my work I have found and consulted a large variety of resources.  I have by no means exhausted them.  Below I list the Top 10 that should be on the "must read" list for anyone researching their Virgin Island family, and where these resources are.  Many of these records are available at the St Croix Landmarks Library at Whim and the Caribbean Genealogical Library in Charlotte Amalie, but as I am off-island, I have indicated where they can be found from the mainland.

Understanding Virgin Islands Records at Rigsarkivet

In a previous post, New Ancestry.com VI Records-First Impressions, I discussed some new records  posted to Ancestry.com from several sources.  In that post, I described how to recognize and source records from NARA RG 55.  I had begun a follow-on article on how to understand the records from Rigsarkivet (RA), the Danish Archives.  Sadly, the collection only lasted a week before it was withdrawn (Virgin Islands Records Vanished from Ancestry.com), and so I never completed the post.  As I'm watching Gabby Douglas struggle on the Balance Beam in London, I figured I'd complete that post.

St Croix Census Responses–Creative Occupations

It’s always interesting to read old census forms because they often have amusing entries.  Occupations, in particular, are interesting.  In the St. Croix census, the Occupation field held either a person’s job or other information on what they did or how they were supported.  Sometimes they provided extra information or even commentary that gives a modern reader, who is used to the “just the facts” responses, a chuckle.

Here is a set of responses I collected that struck me as unusual, either in the way the occupation was put (quill driving or bookkeeping), the extra information provided (principal stock keeper, an excellent man), or by the many ways a person can be described as unemployed (sitting down, nothing) and (lives by what he can obtain).  Some of these people are having a hard time finding work (House servant; has given up and will leave this place) or are in some way poor (no support and very destitute). 

It is also interesting that the problems with cheap imports are hardly new.  William Betts is listed in 1841 as a “shoemaker, but at present can scarcely make a living by it in consequence of the great importation of foreign shoes”.  I’m also wondering about Mr. de Silva who is listed as a “Schoolmaster, Lutheran clerk, gravedigger and inviter”.  I don’t think I want to accept one of his invitations.

If anyone has a clue what Carl P Dick did in 1841, let me know.  Kind of looks like candidate philosopher.  Not much call for that still.

These come from the St Croix censuses on the VISHA Database (http://stx.visharoots.org/db.html).

Year	Name	Age	Sex	Occupation
1835	Peggy	60	F	small gang, minding sucking children
1841	Alexander	2	M	house servant, infant incapable of working
1841	Carl	50	M	keeps the yard & street clean and brings wood
1841	Carl P. Dick	24	M	candid. philos., looking for employment in the island
1841	Isabella Hodge	39	F	mother of a sick woman and in poor circumstances, lives by needlework
1841	Jacob	35	M	Cleans candle sticks, knives & forks etc. etc..
1841	Lucy Ruan	59	F	Ensane, and can give no explanation whatever either with regard to herself and her two leprous children, who are supported by the Land Treasury. They all belong to the English Church
1841	Sophia Abraham	62	F	employed to take charge of the house, which is unoccupied and out of repair
1841	William Betts	28	M	shoemaker, but at present can scarcely make a living by it in consequence of the great importation of foreign shoes
1846	Francis Armstrong	35	M	no employment, living upon what he has worked for
1846	Henry Malleville Francis de Silva	29	M	Schoolmaster, Lutheran clerk, gravedigger and inviter
1846	I. N. Meinche	20	F	not specified; presumably Prison warden, as he signs the form
1846	Isabella Charles	62	F	Celebrated fruit seller
1846	J.C. Krause	50	M	lives by what he can obtain
1846	Jim Keating	22	M	No situation, being an Idiot
1846	John G. Krause	58	M	on good cheer, no title, no office
1846	Peter Teal	62	M	no support and very destitute
1846	W. von Bretton	60	M	quill driving or book keeping
1850	Ann Norager	36	F	constantly in the hospital occasioned from an incurable sickness
1850	Betzy Andrew	34	F	Said to be doing nothing
1850	Caroline	52	F	takes care of her family which is very large
1850	Eliza Mitchell, Miss	56	F	living by economy & industry
1850	Elizabeth Hansen	59	F	charity, by Gods help
1850	Isabella Gowan	24	F	don't know what she does
1850	J L Wittrog	47	M	burgher, support his family as he best can
1850	Johannes	64	M	fisher on his own hook
1850	John Slate	40	M	stopping without permission
1850	Madlane	41	F	does nothing since the revolt
1850	Mary Lucas	57	F	trafficking fruit, assists her husband in making a living
1850	Rachel Gordon	18	F	little or nothing, supported by me
1850	Rosanna	60	F	renter of a house but cannot say how she lives
1855	Albert	15	M	caring stock and to do what he is told
1855	Andreas	32	M	principal stock keeper, an excellent man
1855	Barsheba James	55	F	sitting down, nothing
1855	Elisabeth Elskau	58	F	minding her husband
1855	Leah Nickson	49	F	not employed but minding her mother
1855	Martha Ruan	51	F	attending to her husband by permission
1855	Rosina	16	F	washer apprentice to Sophia Dyer by order of the judge
1855	Sarah	32	F	allowed to live with her husband being delicate and not fit to work
1855	William Alexander	16	M	going to America I believe
1857	James J. Grant	10	M	employed in various ways when he returns from school
1857	Paulina Edwards	11	F	apprentice, attends the Anglican church & school by the request of her mother
1860	Caroline Daniel	60	F	does what is in her power
1860	Sue	42	F	skulking
1880	Alexander Sanders	30	M	former cartman; given up and will leave this place this week
1880	Mary Peterson	27	F	House servant; has given up and will leave this place

The Continuing Saga of the VI Records

Last night I posted that the new record set from Ancestry.com vanished (Virgin Islands Records Vanished from Ancestry.com).  Through e-mail, spoke with George Tyson of the Virgin Islands Social History Association (VISHA), the provider of those records, and he told me that the collection will be back, at least most of it.  Apparently there was a lack of communication and some records were posted accidentally.

While some records belong to the public (National Archives, etc.), some, particularly church records, do not.  In order to obtain the vast collection, VISHA worked with each record provider to gain access.  Not all of those agreements allow posting to the internet.  Until the owners agree, their records cannot be made available.  VISHA asked Ancestry.com to pull the records until they can be parsed out and/or permissions are granted.

While I would love to access those records, I have to support VISHA’s decision.  We, as genealogists, rely on the goodwill of our record holders and must respect their wishes to maintain that goodwill.  If we don’t, we can expect private institutions to close their books to us completely.  That would be very bad.
George said that the plan is to post the remaining collections soon.  Since I, personally, am most interested in the records from the Danish National Archives (since I can’t go there easily), this is very good news.  Once they go back up I will continue my series on how to use the collection.