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*My family will be arriving in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas on May 25. My wife's Mother (maden name Greaux) was born on St. Thomas and her Grandparents lived in an area called the French Village (they are now deceased). While we are there, she would like to have an opportunity to visit French Village and possibly her Grand parents grave sites. Also I have been trying to get any information concerning realitives and/or family history. Any web sites you could suggest would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Hello John,
Does your wife know any other information about her mother and grandparents... first names, middle names, aunts and uncles, dates of birth/death, misc. information, where the grandparents born in St. Thomas also?? If you know more information I may be able to help but at this point not enough info - quite a few Greaux families (you could call them all up but if you had more information it might help to give more direction to your research)
Likely French Village you refer to is Frenchtown. Carenage was also used but Frenchtown is used today. And Northside is another area popular for French people.
Not many web sites containing French in the VI ancestry - the link below is the only one I know of that focuses on French Community in the VI.
http://www.geocities.com/danfrhist/
--Islander
Thank you for your prompt response.
This is what I know at this point. My wife's Garndfather's was Louise Oscar Greaux and her Grandmother's name was Marie Elizabeth Greaux. Both are now deceased. Her Grandfather died before her Grandmother. They were quite poor and she remembers that they lived near the ocean (My wife has not been to St. Thomas since she was 11 years old - 33 years ago). He was a fisherman and made cast-nets. They both lived well into their 90's. Mrs. Greaux died in the early 1980's.
The main thing we are hoping to find is the general location of their Home (He built the home himself and it was on rented land) and more importantly, their grave sites. They were both Catholic.
Hopefully this will help you to find some information for us.
Thank you.
Hello John,
I am assuming that your wife's grandfather was Louis rather then Louise (the latter being a women's name usually). I found a Louis-Oscar Greaux born March 12, 1902 - died in 1973. He was the son of Joseph-Frederic Greaux and Marie-Josephine Danet.
I didn't find anything on Marie Elizabeth Greaux, do you know her maiden name?
Not sure if this is the same person, unless you can confirm same birth or death date. Marie and Louis are very popular names in the French Community - ie. for the person above his mother's name was Marie Greaux, his sister's name was Marie Greaux and his wife (if he is the same person you named) is also Marie Greaux, becomes very confusing.
The graves will more then likely be in the Western Cemetary. Public Works runs the cemetary and they have records. I don't know how organized they are and you will likely need a date of death for them to look up information by year.
--Islander
