Other Virgin Islands Genealogy Books & Resources

Gary Horlacher

Some wonderful additional resources have been published that can be of help to genealogists and historians, depending on the time period and which islands you are interested.

In particular, the Little Nordside Press, P.O. Box 9767, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 00801 has been very active in publishing historical and genealogical materials. Besides a series of histories of various plantations on the islands, they have published the following books which I highly recommend:

• The 1688 Census of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies ($15). This was a full census of the island listing each family, what nationality, religion, description of their plantation, wife, children, reference to slaves, and other information.
• St. Thomas; Crossroads of the Diaspora ($23.95). 186 page book with full index. Translation and transcription of the 1803 census of free blacks on St. Thomas with commentary. Lists name of each person, where born, where they were given their freedom, where resided since 1789, how long they have been on St. Thomas, Occupation, and other information. Includes many people from other Caribbean islands. With the French islands freeing their slaves about this time, this is a particularly important time period. Lovely cover.
• A Brief History of the Cinnamon Bay Estate on St. John in the Danish West Indies ($24).
• Virgin Island Exodus. This booklet indexes the US Identification Cards that became available starting in 1918 and listed pictures and applications for the US identification cards. They acted much like passports. 

Another book I like is the J.L. Carstens' St. Thomas in Early Danish Times. This book was translated by Arnold R. Highfield and published by the Virgin Islands Humanities Council on St. Croix in 1997. Johan Lorentz Carstens arrived in the colonies in 1739 from Copenhagen. This book is a personal account of his life on St. Thomas from 1739-1747. There is also a wonderful history of the Slave Revolt on St. John. Although it is written as a fictional book, the authors based it on the lives of the people and did extensive research in original documents of the time before publishing the book.