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Hendrick was raised in his step-father Lubbertsz's household. He was head of his own family in 1676, when he appears on the tax list of the village of Breuckelen. He had 3 horses, 3 cows and 25 acres of land. Called Hendrick Corsz or Corssen, he was confirmed at the Reformed Dutch Church of Breuckelen on June 11, 1677 by Dominie (Rev.) Wilhelmus van Nieuwenhuijsen. By the next recorded tax in 1683 he had about 20 acres. He was one of the earliest of the Dutch to received a land grant in the Raritan area of New Jersey. Brooklyn church records give Hendrick and Jannetje as communicants who moved to "the Raritans" between 1677 and 1685. This appears to place the move shortly after son Hendrick's birth. The earliest deed reference found connecting Hendrick to this area is in 1687. His brother Cornelis sold him one quarter of a tract (about 1900 acres) that had been granted to him in 1683. Hendrick bought more land later in that year which he sold in 1688. He was granted a land patent of 500 acres in 1688. This was all generally between what is now Readington and perhaps New Brunswick, New Jersey. This corresponds to contemporary references to his living in "Raritan," "Raritan River" and "the Raritans." He is mentioned as an abutting land owner in other deeds. In the Winter of 1697/1698 his name appear in that way twice. The first was on 6 January 1697/1698 and on 5 February "deceased" follows his name for the first time.
The origin of the surname Vroom has yet to be found. It occurred in the Netherlands in the early 1600s among a prominent family of sculptors and marine landscape painters, but Cors Pietersz was never referred to as such, and the descendants of Hendrick's brother Cornelis were Cors(s)ens. In the bapstism record of Cornelius' daughter Cornelia in 1681, both Cornelis and Hendrick, who was a sponsor, were given the surname Vroom after their patronyms. If this event was recorded as such at the time it occurred, the use of "Vroom" was an anomoly. Was "Vroom" added by a later hand? The original of this record hasn't been seen. No other record has been found giving Cornelis or Hendrick the name Vroom. Hendrick's sons were the first to use the name definitively.
children of Hendrick Corsz and Josyntje (Pietersz van Niest) Vroom:
Cors, bap. 27 June 1677 (New Amsterdam/New York DRC), sp. Pieter van Nest & Judith Rapalye, m. Catryntje
Judith, supposedly bap. 16 March 1679, record not found
Pieter? (Dutch naming tradition suggests there was a son Pieter born before Hendrick, b. ca1681 and if so, died young)
Hendrick, bap. 7 May 1683 (Breukelen/Brooklyn DRC), sp. Pieter van Nest de Jong & Jacomyntje Pieterse
Reyst
Hans
Catryntje bap. 6 April 1690 (Brooklyn)
His baptism is recorded in the records of the New Amsterdam Dutch Reformed Church. Josyntje is named in the baptisms of her children.
all text and photographs © 1998-2005 by Doug Sinclair unless where otherwise noted