New! Major Frampton
update coming in January - February 2009, including new data on English origins
of William Frampton, b. 1654.
The Broom Family
Our branch of the Broom family in America can count
themselves among the first settlers of the Chester/Delaware area, with records
dating back to the mid-1680's. They also belong to the founders of Wilmington,
Delaware in the 1730's. The earliest Broom for whom we have a
definite, proven record was Thomas Broom, married to Elizabeth Hannum.
Their son James Broom married Esther Willis.
James and Esther were the parents of Jacob Broom,
a man of many talents who was also active in Delaware politics and a delegate to
the Constitutional Convention from that state.
Chester area tavern circa 1695, artist
unknown
While we are not yet sure if Thomas
Broom was born in America or
immigrated around 1700, his wife's ancestors
(Hannum, Southery) were among the earliest settlers of Chester County in the mid 1680's. Esther
Willis' ancestors (Brinton, Webb) were even earlier, some settling first in NY
(Willis), before moving to SE
Pennsylvania. Via the tabs at left, you can take a journey through the lives of
the first three generations of Broom men in America, together with their wives
and their families. I've also tried to describe points of contention,
unsolved mysteries and also some of the (unfortunately) widely published
misconceptions on some points of their history.
Why all the interest in the Broom family?
In
our family, the Broom family line is perhaps the line whose history has been kept alive
the most. Many years ago, when my grandfather discovered that I was
interested in family history, he pushed a folder of worn, yellowed papers into
my hands, instructing me to read them carefully. Grandfather was the grandson of
Jacob Broom Lyon, who in turn, was Jacob Broom's grandson.
After a pause of
several decades and a journey across the ocean, I picked up the papers again and
started doing some serious research.
The Broom history is not only
interesting because of the role Jacob Broom played in the history of Delaware
and the US, but also because it is in some ways typical of the lives and paths
of the earliest settlers of the Chester Co./Delaware Co. area of Pennsylvania,
many of whom moved to Delaware.
Within a span of just 50 years or so, the settlers went from living in crude
shelters and rudimentary log cabins, depending on friendly Indians for help, to
having built the first cities and the accompanying infrastructure. Many members of this family were
prominent in business and some also played a part in national and local
government. Because of this, more documents have been preserved, including letters written
over 200 years ago. From these, it is possible to form a better picture of
life in that time and the personalities involved, making the Broom history
slightly more that a summary of names and dates.
On
the old Chester maps (above right, and left), I
have marked locations of various people (or their ancestors) who were related to
the Broom family in some way, or who are suspected to be related. I have
used colors to make distinctions among the various families, in the hope that
residence patterns and friends/associates mentioned in various documents will give a clue about Thomas' ancestors and
relationships. First results would seem to indicate a closer relationship with
John Broom than with Daniel Broom, for instance, although naming Daniel Broom as
the grandfather of Jacob Broom is perhaps the most widely spread fiction on
internet.
Click
here for large, high resolution
(996kB) version of the entire county or here for smaller, lower
resolution version (400kB). You will need to scroll around the large version. Left is a section
of the old
map including just the western part of
Chester County, and also marked with the property locations for many Broom
ancestors, in this case the Hannum, Brinton, Webb & Willis lines at the end of the 1600's. For more maps of early Chester, click
here.
I
have also put together timelines
for Thomas Broom, James
Broom & Jacob
Broomshowing the most important
documented events relating to their lives that I have found so far.
Also new (but
not quite complete) are Thomas Broom,
James Broom & Jacob
Broom's pages.
Last but not least, one of the most complete
descendant charts for Thomas Broom's family
I think you'll find, including Jacob Broom's descendants, of course. I have left
off many of the sources to keep the page from getting too long, but please
contact me if you want a source.
When I started this research,
I was delighted with any and all scraps of information I could find. Since then,
my research skills have progressed and, in part thanks to Internet which has
made worldwide collaboration possible, it has become clear that among the wealth
of correct information on the Broom family, including Jacob Broom and his
descendants, there has been quite a bit of misinformation published. While
I don't pretend to have all the answers, I hope that the information on the
Broom family and on Jacob Broom in particular will provide some new insights and
also correct a few misconceptions. In turn, if you find anything here that
you think is incorrect -- or you have any information to add, I'd really
appreciate hearing from you.
e-mail
