U.S. Virgin Islands Emigration and Immigration

Immigration The Danes allowed emigration from other nationalities to the U.S. Virgin Islands.


 * Spanish Sephardic Jews
 * Huguenots

1812 to 1815
A list of persons seeking passports to travel from New York to St. Croix and other West Indian destinations for the year 1812 survives at the National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, D.C.) and has been published:


 * Scott, Kenneth. British Aliens in the United States During the War of 1812 Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979, 382-383. (Worldcat); digital version at Ancestry ($).

United States Transfer Era

 * Passports Issued 1895-1921 are online at the Caribbean Genealogy Library website.


 * Passport Correspondence 1917-1923 is online at the Caribbean Genealogy Library website. Includes ID Cards, applications, passport reports, deportation, and correspondence.

Online Records

 * 1906-1947 - at FamilySearch — index

Websites

 * Danish West Indies Passenger List Finding Aid prepared by Susan Lugo. Also see Danish West Indies Passenger List.

Background

 * The Danish West India Company settled on St. Thomas in 1672 and St. John in 1694, later purchasing St. Croix from France in 1733. The islands became royal Danish colonies in 1754, named the Danish West Indian Islands.
 * The islands proved ideal for sugar plantations – sugarcane, produced by slaves from Africa, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It is estimated that by 1775, slaves outnumbered the Danish settlers by a ratio of 8:1.
 * Slavery was abolished in 1848, now celebrated as Emancipation Day. With the plantations no longer as profitable, Danish settlers began to abandon their estates, causing a significant drop in population and the overall economy.
 * During the submarine warfare of the World War I, the United States, fearing that the islands might be seized by Germany as a submarine base, approached Denmark about buying them. After a few months of negotiations, a selling price of $25 million was agreed. The deal was finalized on January 17, 1917.
 * In 2010, the racial makeup of the U.S. Virgin Islands was:
 * Black or Afro–Caribbean: 76.0% (66.1% Non-Hispanic Black)
 * White: 15.7% (13.5% Non-Hispanic Whites)
 * Hispanic or Latino of any race: 17.4% (10.3% Puerto Rican, 5.4% Dominican)
 * Asian: 1.4%
 * Mixed: 2.1%
 * Other: 4.5%


 * Many residents can trace their ancestry to other Caribbean islands, especially Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles'. The territory is largely Afro–Caribbean in origin.