GOV APPLAUDS VI SOCIAL HISTORY ASSOCIATES AND ANCESTRY.COM PARTNERSHIP,

ENCOURAGES VIRGIN ISLANDERS TO UTILIZE NEW ONLINE DATBASE

~St. Croix Population Database most comprehensive virtual archive acknowledging ancestry/genealogy~Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. is encouraging all Virgin Islanders to visit the new St.Croix Population Database for years 1734-1917, the most comprehensive collection of recordsever digitized chronicling the African American population created by the Trans-Atlantic slavetrade. The new web site (www.visharoots.org orwww.ancestry.com/virginislands) describes theSt. Croix African Roots Project and was launched at a ceremony held Saturday at Fort Frederikin Frederiksted, St. Croix. The new site brings together the Virgin Islands Social HistoryAssociates and Ancestry.com in a unique partnership that will enable generations of VirginIslanders and others worldwide to research family history.“When I first learned of the scope of this project, I immediately realized the tremendouspotential for Virgin Islanders to discover new linkages in their family history by tracing theirancestral roots while also reconstructing life stories and family histories of forgotten or unknownancestors,” de Jongh said. The Governor noted that the launch of this new online capability is“not coincidental to the timing of the address of President Barack Obama, a black president, tothe 100thanniversary of the NAACP and just following President Obama’s address to the peopleof Ghana. We are all connected, and it is up to us to determine our future as individuals and as aTerritory going forward.”DeJongh applauded the partnership of the Virgin Islands Social History Associates andAncestry.com, noting that “the launch of this online resource tool is truly historic and will helpVirgin Islanders in the Territory and worldwide to access newly organized information that hasbeen archived for generations. This capability will give our young people the access to betterunderstand their past and will unify the generations in the overall history of the island and itspeople. I encourage all Virgin Islanders to log onto the web site and spend some time learningmore about our collective history as a people,” de Jongh said.The St. Croix Population Database (1734-1917) is a searchable, virtual archive consistingof 1.83 million biographical entries that were transcribed from a vast array of historical recordsfound in American, Danish, and Virgin Islands archives. The Database enables Virgin Islandersto access previously inaccessible historical documentation relating to the history of St. Croix and