Walter Watson Vrooman
ID # 1705, (1860-1903)
| Father | Elias Vrooman (1832-1869) |
| Mother | Vermicie Jane Woolery (1838-1926) |
| Birth | Walter Watson Vrooman was born on 16 February 1860 at Elizabethtown, California. |
| Marriage | He married Emma Rose Pettit. |
| Death | He died on 9 November 1903 at Addy, Stevens Co., Washington State, at age 43. |
| Burial | He was buried on 10 November 1903 at Addy Cemetery. |
| Note | The brother of Elias Vrooman, Walter W. Vrooman, was probably the source for son Walter's middle name Watson, though we have no direct evidence for this. Walter's date and place of birth - Elizabethtown, California - is given in Vermicie's pension petition. Vermicie states that Walter was kidnapped by a Charles Dustin at Beatrice, Nebraska, and that she never saw Walter again. Remarkably, we find a record of Walter in Faribault County, Minnesota, in 1889 documented by the birth of his son Frederick. A marriage record has not been found, but it's difficult to escape the conclusion that Walter Watson Vrooman, who was appoximately 11 when he was taken from his mother, must have had some knowledge of his mother's people, the Woolerys. In previous years, they had come from Canada and settled in Faribault County. Walter must somehow have made his way to Minnesota from Nebraska and, likely, made contact with family members, perhaps hoping that his mother would have returned there as well. The 1889 birth registration and the 1900 census do not compare exactly with such information as we have for Walter. The birth registration gives his age as 30 and this is one year off; he gives his place of birth in both the birth registration and the 1900 census as Oregon. His mother's statement that he was born in California is more reasonable. Still, pending contrary information, this tree will accept that Walter Watson Vrooman in Faribault County in 1889 and 1900 is the son of Vermicie Jane Woolery and Elias Vrooman. The 1900 US census shows Walter with Emma and Fred at Straight River Township, Hubbard Co., Minnesota. He is shown as Walter W. Vrooman, age 38, born June 1863. (This does not accord with his age given on his son's birth registration, which will be closer to being accurate.) His place of birth is shown as Oregon with both parents being born in Minnesota. Emma is shown as age 31 and being born in April of 1879 (this is hardly accurate). Fred is shown as being born in April of 1889. By the time of the 1910 census, Emma is in Spokane with her second husband George H. Frazier. Walter has not been so far found in the 1910 census. A transcription by Interment.net for Addy Cemetery in Stevens County, Washington State, as well as a photo in Find-a-Grave, shows a burial for Walter Vrooman, b. June 28, 1862, d. Nov. 9, 1903. A library in Washington State has provided an obituary for Walter as it appears in the 13 November, 1903, issue of the Chewelah Independent. The story is datelined at Addy on November 11 and identifies Walter as W.W. Vrooman. He and his wife, unnamed, were proprietors of the Pacific Hotel at Addy. The story goes on to tell that he had been in poor health for many years and came to the area little more than a year previous. It's tempting to believe that Walter found his mother, Vermicie, prior to his death, though her pension application in 1906 states that she never saw him again after his 'kidnapping'. There is one possible, though obscure, sidebar to the above story. Walter Watson Vrooman's sister Margaret married Henry Laverty and they appear in the 1880 census at Webster, Nebraska. Henry had a brother George and George is in Eight Mile Grove, Cass County, Nebraska, in 1880. With George is a Jacob Vrooman, age 18, born California. Excepting the given name, Jacob resembles Walter in such other details as we have available. Just who Jacob Vrooman was in 1880 in Cass County, Nebraska, we will never likely know for sure. |
Child of Walter Watson Vrooman and Emma Rose Pettit |
|
|
| Last Edited | 6 Oct 2017 |