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Isaac Ditmars's page
Taken from the Jannetje Vroom Bible in the museum of Old St. Edward's Church
Jannetje's father died when she was a baby. It's likely that she moved with her mother and two half-brothers to Jamaica, NY, where some of her mother's family lived. She married Douwe Ditmars of that town when Jannetje was about 6. She became known by the English form of her name: Jane Vroom. Jane had 8 children, about 78 grandchildren and about 286 great grandchildren. She lost her first husband, who was her stepbrother, to unknown causes. She then married one of her first cousins. They moved with other Loyalists to Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, about 1783 and settled on a lot of land in Clements Township, probably in or near present day Cornwallis or Deep Brook. They attended church in Moose River (now Clementsport) and are buried in the churchyard there. We are very fortunate that someone preserved her Bible, which is now in the collections of Old St. Edward's museum in Clementsport. It contains the only known record of births, marriages and deaths of various members of her family.
Jane's gravestone in Old St. Edward's churchyard. Left: existing condition (2004); right: a partial, digital restoration. The origin of the epitaph hasn't been found, but it appears in print in "Heroines of Methodism" by George Coles. It was used by a minister eulogizing his mother, who died months after Jane in 1830, but the book was published in 1857. When the eulogy was written isn't said, but this indicates the poem wasn't unique to Jane's stone.
children of Jannetje or Jane Vroom and Isaac Ditmars:
i. Douwe Isaac b. 27 January 1772
ii. Sarah b. 8 June 1778
children of Jannetje or Jane Vroom and Jan or John Vroom:
iii. Gerretie or Charity, b. 4 June 1782
iv. Joris or George, b. 12 December 1783, supposedly at sea
v. Hendrick or Henry, b. 4 August 1786
vi. Jannetie or Jane, b. 11 July 1788
vii. Jan or John, b. 25 July 1790
viii. Isaac Ditmars, b. 17 August 1791
ix. Lemmetie or Lemma, b. 12 October 1793
Her birth and death dates come from her Bible in the Old St. Edward's Church museum, Clementsport. She also has a gravestone in the Old St. Edward's Church cemetery. Her marriage license dates are from "New York Marriages Before 1784."
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all text and photographs © 1998-2005 by Doug Sinclair unless where otherwise noted