Saint Kitts and Nevis Emigration and Immigration

Saint Kitts and Nevis Wiki Topics
Beginning Research
Research Strategies Record Finder Online Learning
Record Types
Cemeteries Census Church Records Civil Registration Colonial Records Court Records Emigration & Immigration	Compiled Genealogies Land & Property Military Records Newspapers Online Records Periodicals Religious Records Slavery
Saint Kitts and Nevis Background
Gazetteers History Jurisdictions Languages	Maps Naming Customs Social Life and Customs
Local Research Resources
Archives & Libraries Societies FamilySearch Centres

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Emigration and Immigration

Online Records

• 1813-1834 Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1813-1834, index, incomplete, ($) St. Kitts records listed under St. Christopher
• 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, at Ancestry.com, index and images. ($)
• 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960, St. Kitts at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
• 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960, Nevis at FindMyPast; index & images ($)
• 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for St. Kitts
• 1892-1924 New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924 Search results for Nevis
• United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records

British Overseas Subjects

• British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Saint Kitts and Nevis, index and images, ($)
• British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Saint Kitts and Nevis

If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Saint Kitts and Nevis, see Saint Kitts and Nevis Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Saint Kitts and Nevis Emigration and Immigration

"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country.
Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Contents: Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1813-1834

The Original Register of 1817 represented the first census, or perhaps inventory, of the enslaved populations of St. Kitts. Subsequent returns recorded new births, deaths, manumissions, transportation and marronage (the process of extricating oneself from slavery).

The most obvious information that comes from the registers includes:

– The names and number of the enslavers;

– The number of the enslaved held in bondage by individuals and on the Island as a whole;

– Individuals’ names, age, sex, colour, place of origin and occupation;

– On rare occasions there is mention of family relations.

– The enslaved were property that could be bought, sold, exchanged, willed and inherited;

– The young (6 and under) the old and the infirm were not expected to work;

– Enslaved man and women worked side by side in the cane fields.

There is also information that can be inferred.

– There were opportunities for traditions and customs originating in Africa to be renewed and passed on.

– A significant amount of migration was taking place both within the region and with North America.

– Muslims were very likely present on the island and that some of the enslaved may have been literate as Muslim boys were often thought to read and in some instances to write.

– Enslaved workers were moved, en mass from one island to the other, suggesting that elements of the white population had interests in other places besides St. Kitts.

– Enslaved people may have attempted to create a family experience.

– The names of the enslaved were sometimes an indication of the depth of the psychological trauma that the enslaved endured.

– Some of the enslavers were actually humane and may have cared for the enslaved persons who worked for them.

– Not all enslavers were rich white men. In some instances they were women, or free coloured or free black men or women who may have controlled a plantation or just a few household slaves.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.