St. Thomas

Census Record of Free Blacks from 1803

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Proceedings and Register of Free Blacks is a census conducted in 1803 on St. Thomas. It counted and listed the islands’ free people of color. The census contains age, occupation, where the person was from, how they got to St. Thomas, how they came to be free, and other…
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Analyzing the judgment of Williams, Vessup and Stevens in their application against the electoral boards of St. Thomas

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In December 1935 Edith Williams, Anna Vessup, and Eulalie Stevens filed an application against the Town and Country Electoral Boards of St. Thomas, and their members. They filed their application in the St. Thomas District Court. They wanted to be recognized as qualified voters. Qualifications for voting at the…
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Analyzing a Record of Ship Arrival from 1804

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Since the 1760s, St. Thomas, benefiting from free port status and one of the finest natural harbors in the world, has been a hub of Atlantic maritime trade and commerce. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a vast variety of trade goods from the far reaches of the Atlantic…
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Map of part of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas

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Bluebeard’s Castle is the name given to a historic Danish period watchtower that was built around 1689, on St. Thomas. It is located on a small hill, overlooking Charlotte Amalie harbor. Originally the watchtower was part of a fortification system used to watch over and protect the harbor. The…
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Runaway Notice in St. Thomas Tidende, St. Thomas, 14 December 1825

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Newspapers provide abundant information about the people and communities they serve. On their pages can be found accounts of local and international events, government proclamations, notices of happenings, arrivals and departures, marriages, deaths, items for sale, public notices, international events, and the like. The first newspaper was published in…
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Analyze Petroglyphs and an Amerindian Swallow Stick

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The various groups of people who first inhabited the Virgin Islands had no written system of communication. However, we can learn directly about their lifeways and beliefs through the surviving elements of their material culture, which include settlement sites, pottery, stoneware, food remains and various kinds of carvings, all…
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Analyze Contents of a Prehistoric Midden from Tutu, St. Thomas

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In September 1990, construction crews were digging in an area of Tutu, St. Thomas to build a shopping mall. They disturbed remains of an Amerindian village. The construction activity was stopped for 10 months. This allowed archeologists a brief period to examine the site. When archaeologists dig, they are…
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Census Record 1850, Charlotte Amalia, Crown Prince Quarter 10B General Gade belonging to Valentina Ricardo

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Official population censuses are the primary sources of information about the composition and distribution of a specific set of people over time. The Virgin Islands is fortunate in having available for research a total of fifteen, near-complete censuses for the period 1835 to 1940. They document in a variety…
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Analyzing a Harbor Master’s Map of Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas from 1822

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This map was drawn by Levin Jørgen Rohde. He was born in 1786 and died in 1857. He was a commodore in the Royal Danish Navy, and harbor master of the port of St. Thomas, West Indies from 1819 to 1854. The map is called “Kort over havnen i…
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Analyze a Photograph of Children Playing Marbles in French Village, St. Thomas

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Games played with marbles have been around for a long time. Early marbles, made of rounded pebbles and clay, have been found in ancient sites in different areas of the world. Modern marbles, like those sold in stores today, are largely made of glass. In the Virgin Islands, games…
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