How and when we got here and where we ended up.

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Hendrick Barholomeus Vrooman: b. ca. 1619 in Leiden, Holland.  Arrived America 1664 with five children, including my ancestor Adam. They sailed on D'Endracht (The Concord) a Dutch West India ship captained by Jan Bergen. After time in Kinderhook, NY, the family moved to Schenectady, NY

• His son, Adam, apprenticed with a millwright in Albany ca. 1660. He and his wife Engletie Blom settled in Albany, later in Schenectady. In 1714, Adam established the first farm in Schoharie, NY
• Adam Vroman moved his family to Lee County, Illinois 1850-3. At some point before his death in 1871, he moved to Sumner, Webster County, Iowa.
• Dorance Vroman moved to Western Ohio sometime before 1849. Catherine Chambers (his wife) was born in Pennsylvania; her family moved to Miami, Ohio, in 1837. Dorance and Catherine bought a farm in DuPage County, IL in 1869.

John Finch arrived with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. 

• Henry Finch and Elizabeth Boorn married 27 December 1717 in Swansea, Bristol County, MA. 
• Their son, Henry, married Abigail Ballou in MA in 1724. Abigail was born in Rhode Island. Henry and Abigail lived in Smithfield, RI. 
• Their son, Stephen, moved to Simsbury, CT in 1772. He and his wife, Mindwell Moore, moved to Southampton, Hamshire County, MA. In 1797 they moved to Granville, NY, in 1804 they moved to Clinton County, NY.
• Their son, Stephen, and his wife Sarah Sears, lived in Clinton County. After Stephen's death, Sarah moved to DuPage County, IL, where three of their sons had settled.
• Their son, William Finch, was born in Saratoga NY. He married Margaret Simpson, who was born in England, in 1845. In 1850 they moved to DuPage County, IL. 
• Their son, Orrin Stephen Finch married Sarah Jane Vroman, daughter of Dorance, in Naperville, IL in 1875. They moved, with their 8 children, to Nance County, NE in 1887. After Orrin's death, Sarah and her youngest child, my maternal grandmother, Irene Finch, moved to Fullerton, NE. Irene's full name was Ollie Irene (which she hated!). 

Elijah Smith married Margaret Preston in Henry County VA in 1783. They moved at some point to Rockcastle County, KY.

• Their son, Aquilla Smith was born in VA in 1788, and moved to KY as a child. In 1815, he married Elizabeth Collier. After about 14 years, they moved to Salt Creek Township, Jackson County, IN. Nineteen years later, when Aquilla was 60, they moved to Madison County, IA. 
• Their son, Asa Burl Smith, married Mary Matilda Pender in Winterset IA in 1864. Mary was born in IN in 1846; with her parents Jeremiah Pender and Jane Crawford and her siblings, she moved to Winterset in 1851.
• Asa and Matilda's fourth son, William Elmer T. Smith, was born in 1868 in Winterset, IA. By age 22, he had relocated to Nance County, NE, where he married Mabel Grace Fitzgerald in 1893. After the birth of their third child, Will abandoned the family, presumably returned to Winterset, and died in OK in 1937.
• Mae (Mabel Grace) and Will's youngest son, Forrest Leroy Smith (my maternal grandfather) married Irene Finch in 1919 in Grand Island, NE. They farmed near Fullerton NE for many years, then in 1936 purchased a Gambles Hardware store in Albion, NE. 
• Their daughter, my mother, Marjorie Irene Smith was born near Fullerton NE in 1921. She worked in Washington DC and Omaha, NE during WWII. In 1945, she married my father, Jim Southard. 

Thomas Southard b. ca. 1615 in Leiden, Holland of English parents. Was in Gravesend, Long Island by 1640. He married Annica (later Eunice) Jansen about 1650. They lived on Long Island, New Holland.

• Annica was the daughter of Anthony Jansen Van Salee and Grietje Reyniers, who were married on shipboard and arrived New Netherland 1630. Anthony's father was Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, AKA Reis Mourad the Younger (c. 1570 – c. 1641), a famous Dutch pirate. His mother was probably a Spanish or Moroccan woman. 
• Thomas and Annica's son, Thomas married Frances Champion about 1685. After several years on Long Island, they moved to Fishkill, Dutchess County, New Holland (New York)
• Their son, Henry Southard, married Phebe Totten in Hempstead, Long Island, in 1730. Phebe was the daughter of Benjamin Totten and Rebecca Springsteen. Henry and Phebe moved to Fishkill, then New Jersey, and finally Lincoln County NC in 1767. 
• Their son, Isaac, settled in NC with his father. He is probably the father of Martin Southard. 
• Another son of Henry and Phebe, Henry Southard, married Anne (?) then Ruth (?) in 1778 in NJ. By 1785 they were living in Surry County, NC. 
• First cousins Martin Southard (son of Isaac) and Elizabeth Southard (daughter of Henry and Ruth) married in Surry County, NC in 1807 and remained there for the rest of their lives. 
• Their son, Levi Southard, married Keziah Reece in 1838 in Surry County NC. In 1851, they moved with their family (in a party of 44 people in wagons) to Hardin County, IA (a distance of 1200 miles). 
• Their third child, William Reece Southard was born in NC and moved to IA with his parents. He married Teressa Pennington in 1877 in Marshalltown, IA. In 1879, they moved to a homestead in Greeley County, NE. William was granted final ownership in 1883. They moved to a farm in Howard County, NE in 1881. 
• Their son, Alvin (my paternal grandfather) married Laura Griffin Southard (my paternal grandmother) his brother's widow, in 1909 in Grand Island, NE.  
• Their son, Jimmy Raymond (another one who hated his name) Southard married Marjorie Irene Smith in 1945 in Albion, NE

Asahel Griffin was born in an unknown location in Ireland in 1759. In 1793, he bought a farm in Newhaven, Addison County, VT and married Polly. They moved to Moira NY by 1820.

• Their son, Sylvester Griffin, was born in Newhaven.  Sylvester married Matilda Austin, sometime after 1820. Matilda was the daughter of Peleg Austin and Aliah (?); she was born in 1800 in VT.  She and Sylvester moved to Moira NY before 1828. In 1842, the family moved to Jackson County, IA. (In 1849, Sylvester walked from IA to CA to checkout the gold rush. He returned to IA via the water route, apparently without any gold.)
• Their son Edwin (Edward) Griffin was born in Moira NY. He moved to Jackson County, IA with his family, where he married Harriet Lewis in Dubuque, IA in 1849. Edwin and his second wife moved the family to Hopkins, MO in 1858. 
• Lewis Griffin, son of Edwin and Harriet, married Laura Evelyn Crenshaw in MO in 1876. In 1884, they moved to Lancaster County, NE. Their youngest child was Laura Almeda Griffin. After his first wife died, the Lewis remarried and moved the family to St. Paul NE in 1898.
• Lewis and Laura's daughter, Laura Almeda, married Edmond (Edward) Southard in Ogden UT, where Edmond was working as a fireman with the railroad. They lived in Cheyenne and Rock Springs, WY. When Edmond was killed in an accident in 1907, Laura returned to St. Paul with their two daughters. She married Edmond's brother, Alvin Levi Southard, in 1909. 
• Their youngest son, Jim, married Marjorie Smith in 1945. They lived in St. Paul NE where their two children, Marc (Mark) and Jo Lynn were born in 1950 and 1957. In 1957, the family moved to Omaha NE, where they lived for a year, then to Storm Lake, IA. In 1968, they moved to Atlantic IA. In 1975, they retired to Fort Meyers, FL, but moved to Lincoln NE in 1985 to be closer to family. 

Michael Charles Fitzgerald b. 1851 in Bristol, England of Irish parents. Unknown arrival date -- stay tuned!