Sources on property and ownership in the Danish West Indies

Below are selected source groups that are relevant to exploring property relations. Use the glossary with explanations of the most important archival terms and concepts: Danish-English translations of archival terms.

However, sources on ownership and property relations can be found in many other sources. In the registry, you can get an overview of all digitized records from local Danish authorities in the Danish West Indies:

In the Danish West Indies, most land and valuable assets were owned by a small upper class, primarily plantation owners and merchants.

The rest of the population owned very little, and the enslaved labourers even less. The biggest difference from Danish conditions was that during the slavery era, one could also own people and bequeath them to heirs or take out loans against their value, just like other property.

Property in land, houses and enslaved labourers was registered for tax purposes in tax records and land registers. That way you can follow the successive owners of a particular property. It was recorded in mortgage books and records if an owner took out loans in his or her property, whether it was a plantation, a ship or an enslaved labourer. Thus you can get an insight into not only the land (with plantations and houses) a person owned, but also other types of property.

Finally, information about the property and possessions of deceased individuals was registered in the probate documents, where you often get an even more detailed insight into personal belongings, such as teaspoons, shirts and books.

Land Lists and Cadastres (so called after 1755) were annual tax returns from property owners on the islands for calculating personal and land tax. In the collections, the Cadastres (Matrikler) are referred to as Land Registers, which will be the term used throughout the rest of the guide.

Land Lists and Registers can help you investigate property relations for urban or rural properties in a given year. They also indicate the number of people living on the property: men, women, children, employees, and slaves.

Free persons are often listed by name, possibly with other personal information. Slave names are not listed (these can be found in land register information forms/slave lists). For plantations, location, size, and type of crops and production are also indicated.

Land Lists and Land Registers are archived separately. Both are organized geographically by island and then chronologically. The following years are preserved:

Land Lists

• St. Thomas: 1688-1694, 1697-1749, 1751-1752, 1754.
• St. John: 1728-1739.
• St. Croix: 1742-1754.

Land Registers

• St. Thomas: 1755-1915.
• St. John: 1755-1915.
• St. Croix: 1758-1775, 1780-1783, 1786-1806, 1814-1915.

Within each year, the Land Lists and Land Registers are divided geographically by districts (rural areas) and towns. The order within each geographic area varies, e.g., from east to west or west to east, but the order is usually consistent over long periods.

From around 1718, Land Lists have an alphabetical index organized by the owner’s first name; in Land Registers, it is by the owner’s last name. From around 1800, plantations in each district are listed under the owner’s name. Additionally, the plantation’s name appears with the owner’s name. Note that some plantations change names, new ones are created, and some disappear due to mergers and subdivisions.

Land Lists are written in Dutch (Latin script) or Danish (Gothic script), while Land Registers are in Danish (Gothic script).

Probates were the legal documents prepared when a free person on the islands died. In the probates, you will find information about the deceased’s property and heirs.

The property information can be very detailed, covering everything from entire plantations with slaves and buildings to pots and pans.

The West Indian probates are not easy to work with. They consist of different types of probate documents written at different times during the handling of a probate case, and they change over time.

Probate documents from before 1755 are archived under the West Indian-Guinea Company. Probate documents from after 1755 are generally archived under the magistrate, who handled law enforcement in a specific geographic area (St. Thomas and St. Croix: town magistrates, St. John: rural magistrate).

Additionally, some special probate cases are archived under the West Indian Government. The two time periods – before and after 1755 – sometimes overlap, so the division is not entirely consistent. Therefore, it is advisable to consult both groups to find the desired probates.

Probate documents before 1755 are not divided by type of probate document, but only by whether the deceased was an employee of the company or a citizen and then chronologically.

Probate documents after 1755 are divided into three main groups of probate documents in prioritized order and a fourth group, which can also be useful. These four groups are first divided geographically by island and then chronologically.

1. Registration and appraisal protocols

These protocols record the start of a probate case, i.e., the death and the values in the deceased’s estate. Besides the chronological order of the cases, some protocols have an alphabetical index by the deceased’s name. Each probate case was assigned a number that recurs in the types of documents described below.

2. Probate court session protocols

These protocols record the individual court sessions during the probate process in chronological order. The court sessions dealt with the payment of debts in the estate and the collection of receivables.

3. Probate decree protocols

The probate decree was the final document in the probate process. It documents the estate’s inventory and distribution among the heirs.

4. Individual probate cases

This group contains documents submitted or used during the probate case process, e.g., bills, loan certificates, and deeds. Unlike the three protocols above, individual probate cases are organized into four subgroups, with subgroups I, III, and IV alphabetically arranged by the deceased’s last name. Subgroup II is not organized.

In the mortgage books, you will find information about the mortgaging of property on the islands. They provide insight into what a person owned during their lifetime. The mortgaged property could range from entire plantations and ships to individual slaves. Slaves were considered property and could thus be mortgaged.

There are two types of mortgage documents, both organized chronologically:

• Mortgage Protocols
• Deed Books

For some of them, alphabetical registers organized by personal name and/or place name have been preserved.

The mortgage documents in the Danish National Archives are not complete. Part of the material is in the US National Archives in Washington DC and the Recorder of Deeds Office in the US Virgin Islands. Additionally, much of the material from Frederiksted burned during the labour revolt in 1878.

The material in the Danish National Archives is archived under two different authorities. For St. Croix, mortgage protocols are found under the Christiansted town magistrate. For St. Thomas and St. John, deed books are under the High Court for the West Indian Islands.