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.

New Book-“Island Boy” by Arnold van Beverhoudt Jr

 

Genealogists tend to live in the past.  A very distant past.  Few of them take the time, or have the interest, to document their own lives.  After all, our lives are recent.  There is no mystery.  Besides, our lives aren’t interesting unless we are movers and shakers, captains of industry or politicians. Somehow we feel that the life of anyone from the 18th century, no matter how dull,  is far more interesting than our own. 

Well, one day, the 2013 will be “long ago” and our descendants (avid genealogists, of course) will be building their family history.  Of course, they will have all of our wonderful research to build on, but it will suddenly end with us.  How will they find out about us?  Can you think of a better gift to leave them than a detailed account of our lives?  About when and where we lived? What we liked and disliked, our hopes and dreams?  About how we were affected by the events of our times?  What would you give to find such an account of one of your ancestors?

A Blogging Milestone: 100th Post from 200 Years

This post is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post on 200 Years in Paradise.  Who would have thought I’d have that much to say?

I was trying to figure out what would be a good topic for my 100th post.  Should I discuss something from general genealogy?  Island history?  An article on an ancestor?  A house? Records?  DNA? Nothing seemed right for such a momentous occasion.

Then this past week I got an email from a reader, Rolf Klausen, who read one of my posts, Pulling a Thread to Unravel Genealogical Tangles, where I discuss the family of my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Aletta Quickly.  In the article I mention that I had not seen the image of the 1846 census, just the extracted information on Ancestry.com by VISHA.  Rolf kindly sent me a photo of the census page in the Danish Archive showing my family at 27 Hospital St in Christiansted, along with some other pages of interest.  How kind of him to look this up for me and send it along.

This made me think of all of the people who have helped me in researching my family that I have met through this blog.  The people who have left helpful hints, suggestions, and information through comments and email.  People have found records of my family, in the islands and in Denmark.  They have pointed me in directions where I could find information about the society where my ancestors lived. 

Others have shared their family stories, often giving me hints where I might look next on my own journey.  Others have found me through my posts and have turned out to be relatives.  They have provided much information that has grown my family well beyond anything I could have imagined.

So this post, the 100^th post, is a Thank You.  A thank you to those who have helped me, to those who have allowed me to be part of their journey, and a thank you to you, my readers, for supporting me and accompanying me on my own journey to learn and understand where I’m from, who my people are, and what they were like.  It’s very true, no man is an island (even an island man).  I thank you all and look forward to 100 more.

Now, what to say in the next 100?

Ancilla and Elizabeth: Who were they?

Probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of blogging genealogy is helping other people research their Virgin Islands roots.  The complete lack of helpful information for VI researchers makes it very easy to get frustrated and quit.  Hopefully, I help fill in a little there.  Apart from the sheer enjoyment of sharing my passion, working on someone else’s family allows me to work with records and locations that don’t pertain to my family. It helps me learn about the other people on the islands which gives me a better understanding of the culture and society that shaped my family.
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. 

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

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.