vital records sources
go to Jannetje Bergen's page (not yet online)

     Hendrick may have lived in Brookly, New York, by the time he married. His first marriage (and the baptism of his first child?) occurred there and a man with his name is on a list of soldiers in the Kings County militia in 1715. Hendrick and Jannetje were probably living in the Raritan, New Jersey, area by 1716, when he and Jannetje start appearing in the baptism records of the Raritan Dutch Reformed Church, including two for their daughters Josyntje/Josina and Sytje/Sarah in 1717 abnd 1720. In 1723 he and Frederick Van Lieuw apparently were in charge of money subscribed for the support of the Three Mile Run Church. He was also elected a representative of that church seven years later, suggesting he may have moved to Raritan Landing in the early 1720s. The trip to Three Mile Run was considerably easier from there than the one to Raritan. His residence in that town is discussed more later.
     Hendrick was involved in a major church controversy that blossomed in 1723. When the Dutch went to the Raritan River area of New Jersey, they were a minority. For some it was important to preserve their culture, including the Dutch Reformed Church they were used to. The four congregations, located in what are now Somerville, Readington and New Brunswick, were small, and it was decades until a permanent minister was settled to serve there. Various factors, including politics and money, brought Theodore Frelinghuysen to them in 1720. He was a strict Calvinist, and practiced a theology very different from what the Raritan Dutch were used to. Aside from his personal dedication to his beliefs, which appear to have been largely genuine, he was also very arrogant and used doctrine like a cudgel. There was inevitable dissent, and Hendrick was one of the leaders of it. Frelinghuysen felt he had the power to excomminicate anyone who confronted him, and thus Hendrick was banned from attending any of the churches under Frelinghuysen's control. Exactly when this happened hasn't been pinpointed. It was in 1723, but after Hendrick is mentioned handling the Three Mile Run Church money. The dissent and excomminication may be why he and Jannetje went to New Utrecht and Jamaica, New York, to baptize their children in 1722 and 1724 respectively. It wasn't unusual for the Dutch in the greater New York City area to travel to various churches to have baptisms performed, often depending on where close relatives were living who were to be witnesses to the event. The excommunication was lifted by the Classis at Amsterdam in 1727, and Hendrick may have come to terms with his feelings toward Frelinghuysen enough to continue worshipping at Three Mile Run. Seemingly only that would allow him be a representative of that church in 1729 and to be elected an elder in 1734. He was on a subscription list for the church at Raritan in 1743 with his sons Joris/George, Jan/John and Hendrick, Jr., but this may not mean they attended services there. More research is needed.
     Hendrick was back in Brooklyn for his second marriage in 1745, but it was to a woman who was most likely a daughter of his neighbor and co-dissenter Pieter Dumont in New Jersey. New Jersey historian Cornelius Vermeule places Hendrick in a house in Raritan Landing between 1739 and 1760. That town was along the Raritan River across from New Brunswick, but was largely abandoned by the mid 1800s. The largest house there, built for Cornelius Low, still stands, and Vermeule says the Vrooms lived next door to the west. Low says in his Bible that he interred all but one of his children who died young in Hendrick Vroom's "vault." No mention has been found of a cemetery in Raritan Landing, so the Vrooms may have had a private burying ground near their house, which was ot uncommon. The Vrooms and Lows had no familial connection, so proximity is the likely explanation for these burials. This site is or is nearly in a parking lot connected to the Rutgers football stadium. Hendrick's son lived nearby. Just before he died he bought The Rising Sun Tavern, which was recently excavated by the entrance to the stadium. It will likely never be known where spedifically Hendrick and Jannetje lived (and where their children were born) before 1739, or where Hendrick and his second wife Dorritje lived after 1760. When he wrote his will he was "of Bridgewater Township, Somerset County" which included the villages of Raritan and Somerville.      His will was written on 16 October 1756. His sons Hendrick, George (deceased) and Peter were living on plantations he owned, and that his real estate was to be divided by his living sons. Two of the plantations were probably in Somerset County since he specifically says George's was in Middlesex County. Other children mentioned are his eldest daughter Sarah, second daughter Marritie and third daughter Brachtra and son John, all still living. Four grandchildren were given bequests: Hendrick, Peter and Jannitie, children of George and Jannitie, daughter of Jannitie.

children of Hendrick Vroom and Jannetje Bergen:

i. Hendrick, b. prob. 1711-12, bap. 7 May 1713 m. Grietje Staats
ii. Joris, b. 2 October 1713
iii. Josyntje, bap. 15 October 1717 (Raritan DRC, NJ) sp. Jacob Sebergh & wife
iv. Sytie, bap. 28 February 1720 (Raritan) sp. Daniel and wife Kaatie Sebring
v. Pieter, bap. 29 April 1722 (New Utrecht DRC, NY) sp. Joris Bergen, Jr. & Brechtje Bergen
vi. Marritje, bap. 20 June 1724 (Jamaica DRC, NY) sp. Cornelius Ewoutsen & Aeltie Remsen
vii. Bregie, b. 23 August 1725
viii. Jan, b. ca. 1727
ix. Jannetje, b. ca. 1729

vital records sources: His birth date come from his baptism record among the records of the Brooklyn Dutch Reformed Church. His first marriage and thier engagement on 21 December 1710 are in the records of the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church. His second marriage is recorded in the Flatbush church records and again disagrees with the Corssen genealogy, which gives the date 18 January.

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