Henry Vrooman
ID # 1734, (1827-1903)
| Father | Arents Schuyler Depeyster Vrooman (1789-) |
| Mother | Mary Douglas (1792-1858) |
| Baptism | Henry Vrooman was baptized in 1827. |
| Marriage | He married Catherine (--?--). To this point, no marriage registration for Henry and Catherine has been found. Given son Elam's birth in 1854, it seems reasonable that they were married around 1852 or 1853. This time period has little in the way of official birth registrations for it falls between the end of most district marriage registers and before county marriage registers were begun. A church record may exist, but it does not appear that they were married any of the Presbyterian churches in Galt. By 1861, the couple was in Beverly, though there is some evidence of a sojourn in Dumfries Township. No reasonable candidate for Catherine has been found in the 1851 census. |
| Death | He died in 1903. |
| Burial | He was buried at McBride Cemetery, Montcalm Co., Michigan. |
| Note | Disregarding the error of the 1949 Vrooman Family book that assigns the children of Arents to his brother Adam, we find Henry shown on page 110 of the book. This shows him as a brother of James and Elam as well as Margaret. Page 111 adds the rest of the known siblings. Henry does not appear, however, in the 1851 census in Garafraxa, but rather in Galt, where he appears as Henry Froman. There are two enumerations for Henry Froman in Galt in 1851, probably representing the same person. One of the enumerations places his usual residence as Fergus. The township borders around Fergus have moved, but at one time in was part of Garafraxa Township where Henry's father and, apparently, most of Henry's siblings settled after they moved from Beverly Township in 1842. We do not have a birth place for Henry, but he almost certainly was born in Beverly Township. By 1861, Henry is married to Catherine (surname as yet unknown) and they reside in Beverly Township. With them are their first three children, Elam, Mary and George. That they should have named a son Elam after Henry's brother is yet another confirmation that Henry is one of Arents' children. By the time of the 1870 US census at Ensley, Newaygo County, Michigan, we find Henry Froman with wife Catherine living there. With them are children Elam, Mary, George, Emerson, John W., all born in Canada. Also with them are daughters Clarinda and Jane, who were born in Michigan. (It does appear that in 1871, Henry returned to visit with his brother Elam Vrooman in Garafraxa Township in Wellington County, Ontario, for in the 1871 census he appears at the end of the family listing as Henry Vrooman, age 44.) The move of Henry and his family to Newaygo County in Michigan appears to be an added confirmation of Henry's relationship to Arents, for Henry's sister Lucy and her husband Peter Drake are in Ensley as well. To take the argument past coincidence, Henry's father is present at Ensley in the 1870, shown as Aaron D. Vrooman, and old Aaron, or Arents, is living with Lucy and Peter Drake. Evidence is circumstantial, but, almost certainly, Henry's sister-in-law Eliza Smith Vrooman spent at least some time in Ensley before marrying a second time in 1879 to John Probasco in Nebraska. Earlier censuses place John Probasco in Newaygo County and it seems reasonable that she met him there. Add to that, her son Emerson Vrooman (Henry's brother) was with Lucy and Peter Drake at the time of the 1880 census. In 1863, Henry and Catherine had a son whom they named Emerson Vrooman/Froman, likely after James and Eliza's Emerson. A note on the spelling of the name Vrooman as it relates to Henry's family. Henry seems consistently to have spelled the family name as Froman, though it appears that he and Catherine are buried with the name spelled as Vrooman in McBride Cemetery. Son George, born in 1860, opted to continue with the spelling Froman. Son Elam appears in earlier records as Froman, but, later and toward the end of his life spelled the name as Frooman. Frooman is how his name appears on his gravestone. Burial information and date of death for Henry is provided by a cemetery transcription of McBride Cemetery as it appears in Find-a-Grave. A Henry Vrooman died in Mecosta in 1902 and is said to be buried in Higbee Cemetery in Big Rapids. Photos are not shown for either gravesite. The McBride Cemetery burial will be that of Henry Vrooman/Froman. |
Children of Henry Vrooman and Catherine (--?--) |
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| Last Edited | 4 Apr 2018 |