A BE1900 had an in transit and unsafe gear indication light when the gear handle was selected up. After troubleshooting the crew declared an emergency and returned to the departure airport for an uneventful landing.

Narrative

On departure; I was the pilot flying and the First Officer was the pilot not flying. After positive rate and pulling the gear up we still had the 'In transit' light remained illuminated. The First Officer and I both noticed this. We called for the QRH and it stated to lower the gear and retract the gear and see if the light extinguished. The Gear unsafe/in transit light remained illuminated.We advised Center that we would like a hold while we trouble shoot the situation. After we could not resolve the situation we contacted Operations and advised them that we would be declaring an emergency and to let Dispatch know; shortly there after we advised Center that we would be declaring an emergency because our gear in transit light remained illuminated. We talked to UNICOM and requested emergency personnel. We did a low pass to verify that we had all gear down even though we had a three green indication. We did. Landed normally no further incidents noted. Passengers thanked us for keeping them informed. We landed in VFR conditions.