Fourth Generation

7. Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) was born on 14 September 1649 in Leiden, Zuid (South) Holland, The Netherlands.^1,3,4,5 (The LDS Family Search Family Group Record lists his birth date as 23 May 1649.)

"Adam Vrooman remained in Schenectady were he operated a mill he had owned since 1683. He sold this mill to his son Wouter in 1710. In 1711 he purchased from the Indians about 600 acres, in two seperate deeds, north of town near Middleburg in the Schoharie Valley. Not having the proper utensils for surveying it, he paced off the tract and called it six hundred acres, for which he gave one hundred and ten gallons of rum and a few blankets. This tract became known as Vrooman Land. The purchase from the Indians had no legal meaning, however as he had to live among them this was a form of “paying them off.”

One of the first two deeds contains the names of eighteen Indians, inserted in the following order: "Pennonequieeson, Canquothoo, Hendrick the Indian, [probably King Hendrick of the French war,] Kawnawahdeakeoe, Turthyowriss, Sagonadiet Tucktahraessoo, Onnadahsea, Kahenterunkqua, Amos the Indian, Cornelius the Indian, Gonhe Wannah, Oneedyea, Leweas the Indian, Johanis the Indian, Tuquaw-in-hunt, and Esras the Indian, all owners and proprietors of a certain piece of land, situate, lying and being in the bounds of the land called Skohere." The title is for two hundred and sixty acres of land near the hill "called Onitstagrawa;" two hundred of which were flats, and sixty acres wood-land. The instrument closed as follows: "In testimony whereof, we, the three races or tribes of the Maquase, the Turtle, Wolf and Bear, being present, have hereunto set our marks and seals, in the town of Schenectady, this two and twentieth day of August, and in the tenth year of her Majesty's [Queen Ann's] reign. Annoque Domini, 1711." Eighteen wax seals are attached to the conveyance, in front of which are arranged, in the order named, the devices of a turtle, a wolf and a bear, the former holding a tomahawk in one of its claws.

The second deed is dated April 30, 1714, and contains the eight following names: "Sinonneequerison, Tanuryso, Nisawgoreeatah, Turgourus, Honodaw, Kannakquawes, Tigreedontee, Onnodeegondee, all of the Maquaes country, native Indians, owners and proprietors, " The deed was given for three hundred and forty acres of woodland, lying eastward of the sixty acres previously conveyed, "bounded northward by the Onitstagrawa, to the southward by a hill called Kan-je-a-ra-go-re, to the westward by a ridge of hills that join to Onitstagrawa, extending southerly much like unto a half moon, till it joins the aforesaid hill Kanjearagore." This instrument closes in the manner of the one before noticed, except that each Indian's name is placed before a seal to which he had made his mark. The ensigns of the three Mohawk tribes are conspicuously traced in the midst of the signatures. One of the two witnesses to both deeds was Leo Stevens, a woman who acted as interpreter on the occasion of granting each conveyance.

When the Palantines came in 1713, they also became traders with the Indians. Perhaps because they were jealous of the large amount of land Adam had or felt that he was going to “hem them in,” they advised the Indians that the tract contained a much larger number of acres than the deeds they had signed. They convinced the chiefs of these tribes that they had been cheated by Adam. This caused them to refuse to barter with him for his goods. Instead of its being but six hundred acres, the grant that Adam recieved from the Govenor gives the same tract as eleven hundred acres.

In 1715 Vroman commenced building a house upon his land, and the Germans being jealous of his purchase, or, in truth believing he was sent to "hem them in" as they stated in the petition, took the responsibility of trespassing upon his domains in a very riotous manner; as will be seen by Adam's Letter, written from Schenectady to Gov. Hunter bearing the date of "the 9th day of July, 1715."

March 30, 1726, Adam Vrooman obtained the new Indian title to the flats know as Vrooman's Land, executed by nine individuals of the nation, "in behalf of all the Mohaugs Indians." The new title gave the land previously conveyed with the sentence, "let there be as much as there will, more or less, for we are no surveyors;" and was executed with the ensigns of the Mohawk nation - the turtle,wolf and bear.

The family stayed in this area for many generations until Josiah moved to Granville in 1817."

(This is a drawing of Adam, taken from the "Book of the Promised Land," page 145.)

. He was born in 1697.³ In 1697, Adam went to Canada to try to obtain the release of his sons Barent and Wouter; his brother, Jan Hendrickse; and his cousin, the son of Pieter Meese Vrooman of Albany. He and his three children--Peter, Christina and Hendrick--escaped the massacre. He died on 25 February 1729/30 at the age of 80 in Vrooman's Land, Middleburgh, Schoharie County, New York Colony, British Colonial America.^1,3,4,5,6

"New York City, and then Albany and Schenectady, had long been settled by the Dutch, with those areas having been named New Amsterdam (New York City), Willemstadt (Fort Orange/Albany), or Beverwyck (Schenectady). Thereafter, the English became the dominant settlers in New York, Long Island and Albany, and the names changed.

Thus, finally settled in their "Promised Land", these poor immigrants from the Rhineland erected their homes and began to start life anew. But they were not to stay comfortable for long. The Indians, who apparently did not really know the difference between squatters' rights and legal deeds of conveyance, had in 1711 given a deed to the lands "under the brow of Onistagrawa" (the Indian name roughly translated to "the Mountain of the Corn" and also known as "Vrooman's Nose) to one Adam Vrooman, a Dutchman from Schenectady. Being a thorough businessman, Vrooman proceeded to secure title from the King, so by 1714 he managed to increase his original tract from the Indians for about 400 acres to a Patent from the King for about 1,100 acres. Then he brought his three sons out from Schenectady to settle and farm the land.

In the meantime, the Palatines, realizing as their number increased that they needed more land than had been set aside for them by Queen Anne, also purchased land and took a deed from the Indians(see photograph below), paying "three hundred pieces of eight." Vrooman also took another deed from the Indians, increasing his acreage to 1,400 acres.

Apparently still aching from their experience at the hands of the English, the Palatines at Weiser's Dorf concluded that they would probably receive no better treatment from a Dutchman, and they thought Vrooman was trying to hem them in or squeeze them out.

So, following the rule that the best defense is a good offense, a group of them, led by John Conrad Weiser himself, went on a raid into Vrooman's land on the night of July 4, 1715. They pulled down the dwellings, trampled the grain and, in general raised havoc.

Probably without too much persuasion from Vrooman, Governor Hunter, who did not want the Palatine immigration to the Schoharie Valley in the first place, issued a warrant for the arrest of John Conrad Weiser, who had to go into hiding.

That tension was growing steadily between the Dutch and the Germans is evidenced by the fact that when Nicolas Bayard, a so-called agent of the British Crown (grandson of the receiver of a land grant for the entire valley given in 1695, but not long after voided by the New York Provincial Council, with the approval of the Crown) appeared at Weiser's Dorf offering to give the settlers good title to their lands if they would but define the boundaries. The Germans drove him out of the Village. He then returned to Schenectady, where he again offered the same privilege to any who would come to the city with a single ear of corn from their lands, no one accepted.

Bayard then traveled to Albany and Governor Hunter proceeded to sell all the remaining Schoharie lands (the so-called Huntersfield Patent) to Myndert Schuyler and four others: Peter Van Brugh, Robert Livingston, Jr., John Schuyler and Henry Wileman. Soon thereafter Lewis Morris, Jr. and Andrus Coeman (Coeyman), who were employed to survey and divide the lands of some 10,000 acres, found a piece not included in the original patent, and proceeded to secure it. Then the seven owners called on the Germans, asking them to take leases on the land, purchase it from them, or leave altogether.....

After the Palatine emigration from Weiser's Dorf and Hartman's Dorf, the Dutch began to move in, mostly on Vrooman's land and Weiser's Dorf. Soon the Zeilies, Eckersons, Beckers, Swarts, Feecks, Mattices, Boucks, Hagars and Lawyers, primarily Dutch but also some Germans, came to this locality. The Germans who had remained received them in a friendly way, and peace and harmony reigned. But German immigration to the area virtually stopped, with the tide going either to Pennsylvania or the Mohawk Valley. These settlers busied themselves in getting their living from the soil, and the Indians did not harass them or make them afraid. The Indian settlement was on the West bank of the Schoharie River, just above the line creek on what we now call the Wilderhook (a Dutch term meaning Indian's Corner)."

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Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) and Engeltie BLOM (^) were married in 1678.^3,4 Engeltie BLOM (^), daughter of Barent Janszen BLOM and Styntie PIETERS, was born about 1652 in New York Colony, British Colonial America.³ She was christened on 12 May 1652.⁴ She died on 8 February 1689/90 at the age of 38 in Schenectady County, New York Colony, British Colonial America.^3,5 She was killed in the Schenectady Massacre in 1690.

Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) and Engeltie BLOM (^) had the following children:

Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) and Grietje RYCKMAN were married on 21 February 1690/1 in Albany, Albany County, New York Colony, British Colonial America.^3,7 in the Dutch Reformed Church. Grietje RYCKMAN, daughter of Harman Janse RYCKMAN and (Unknown) UNKNOWN (RYCKMAN), died about 1695 in Albany, Albany County, NY.³

Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) and Grietje Margrietje Takelse HEEMSTRAAT were married on 13 January 1696/7 in Albany, Albany County, New York Colony, British Colonial America.^3,7 in the Dutch Reformed Church. (This a picture of the Adam Vrooman House, built about 1720 in Schenectady.) Grietje Margrietje Takelse HEEMSTRAAT was born (date unknown).

Adam Hendrickse VROOMAN (^) and Grietje Margrietje Takelse HEEMSTRAAT had the following children: