Margaret Vrooman
ID # 1633, (1824-1859)
| Father | James Vrooman (1794-1871) |
| Mother | Jane Purdy (1800-1838) |
| Birth | Margaret Vrooman was born on 30 January 1824. |
| Marriage | She married James Johnston on 3 March 1840 at Brock Twp., Home District. Home District marriage register, page 268, shows a certification of marriages performed in the Home District by Horace Dean during the year ending June 15, 1840. March 3, 1840 James Johnson and Margaret Vroman, both of Brock, witnesses John Johnson and Elizabeth Johnson. By publication of banns. The Home District registration confirms the statement in the 1949 Vrooman Family History book that Margaret Vrooman married James Johnson. It should be noted that in most census enumerations and on their grave stones, the name is spelled as Johnston. |
| Death | She died on 1 May 1859 at age 35. |
| Burial | She was buried at All Saints Anglican Cemetery, Brock Twp., Ontario. |
| Note | Beyond the Home District marriage registration for James John and Margaret Vroman of Brock, no census record for Margaret and James has been found for 1851. Canada Archives microfilm index indicates that portions of the 1851 census for Brock Township are missing. This will likely account for the fact that Margaret and James have not been found therein. James, shown as married though checked off as being a widower, appears in Brock Township in the 1861 census. He and most of his children are shown with intials only. The name is spelled there as 'Johnston'. James appears with his second wife, Patience (Clapp), in the 1871 census, including his children with Patience as of that census, though their name is spelled as 'Johnson'. Margaret's date of death, May 1, 1859, is taken from a transcription of All Saints Anglican Cemetery at Cannington and is to be found at Durham Genealogical Resources' web site. A photo of Margaret's stone is to be found at the Ontario Grave Marker Gallery. (See Central Ontario, Durham Region, Brock Twp.) The photo shows her age at the time of her death as 35 yrs., 3 mos. (The 'sentiment' at the bottom of Margaret's stone is finely etched, but still quite clear. It reads: Farewell my husband and children dear; I am not dead but sleeping hear; As I am now so you will be, Prepare yourselves to follow me. McD & M Newcastle The inscriptions McD & M is the stone maker's mark and that of McDonald & Metcalfe of Newcastle, Canada West.) The will of James Vrooman, Margaret's father, is dated the 5th of August, 1871. In it, his first bequest is to the children of 'my daughter Margaret, late wife of James Johnston of the said township of Brock'. It seemed certain that James Johnston of Brock Township, later married to Patience Clapp, was the husband of Margaret Vrooman, but the evidence seemed a bit tenuous. The presence of both grave stones in All Saints Cemetery for Margaret and James seemed to add confirmation to their relationship, but the Canadian Grave Marker Gallery photos for James Johnston and Margaret Vrooman Johnston do not indicate proximity to each other. I visited All Saints Anglican Cemetery in August of 2013 and found that James and Margaret are buried next to each other, and so we may say that, with other supporting but circumstantial evidence, James and Margaret were husband and wife. Add to that, and by way of a clincher, their son, John Henry Johnston, who appears with his father in the 1861 and 1871 censuses, married and had a daughter named Margaret Vrooman Johnston. The handwriting on some of the documentation is bad enough that such an interpretation might be questionable, but Margaret Vrooman Johnston married a John Walker in 1910 and the birth registration of their son, George Henry Walker in 1912, clearly names the mother as Margaret Vrooman Johnston. This evidence would place the relationship beyond question. James' second wife, Patience Clapp, is buried with three of her children in Cedarvale Cemetery at Cannington, not too far distant from All Saints Anglican Cemetery. All Saints Cemetery was refurbished in the not too distant past. Brackets were placed to support the old, upright, flat stones and concrete bases installed. The cemetery is well kept. |
Children of Margaret Vrooman and James Johnston |
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| Last Edited | 22 May 2020 |