WI BIO - Dane Co - VROMAN, William
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, pp 503-504

William VROMAN, prominent among the pathfinders of Wisconsin and the 
representative citizens of Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin], whose interests 
have been identified with those of the capital city [Madison] for more than 
fifty years, and who has contributed by his honorable and energetic efforts 
to the financial prosperity and moral advancement of this community, was born 
in Onondaga County, New York, 20 February 1818. His parents, Jacob and Olive 
(TOLLS) VROMAN, were natives of New York and England, respectively. They 
removed to Indiana in an early day, where they died when the subject of this 
sketch was but three years of age. [If the date of birth of William is 
correct, then they moved to Indiana about 1821; Indiana became a state in 
1816.] After this sad bereavement, young William lived with his uncles and 
aunts in New York State until he attained the age of nineteen years. He 
received a common school education and the careful training of moral and 
religious minds. At the age of nineteen [if William's given birthdate is 
correct, then about 1837] he joined the westward tide of emigration, coming 
to Madison [in Michigan Territory until 20 April 1836, then in the Territory 
of Wisconsin until 29 May 1848, at which time WI became a state], where he 
was for a time employed at the carpenter and joiner's trade. He afterward 
returned to New York, where he continued to work at this trade for four 
years, being in New York at the time of [William Henry] HARRISON's 
inauguration in 1841 [04 March 1841], grandfather of the recent president. 
In September 1844 Mr. [William] VROMAN again came to Wisconsin, which was 
still on the frontier of civilization and a Territory. He engaged in farming 
and contracting in Dane County [a territorial county since 1836], which was 
then but sparsely settled. In 1861 Mr. [William] VROMAN was elected County 
Treasurer for four years, and in 1863 he discontinued farming and engaged in 
the lumber trade in Madison, continuing in that business until 1889, when he 
retired from active pursuits to enjoy in rest and comfort the accumulations 
of his earlier years, being cheered by the society of his wife and children.

Mr. [William] VROMAN was married in New York in March 1844 to Harriet FIELD, 
a native of Oneida County, New York, and a daughter of Lincoln FIELD, a 
prosperous farmer and contractor. They have had two children: Charles 
Edwin; and Ellen Josephine, wife of E. C. MASON, a well-to-do plumber and gas 
fitter of Madison [Dane County, Wisconsin].

Politically Mr. VROMAN was formerly an [p 504] old-time Whig, but since 1860 
has been identified with the Republican party. Public-spirited and 
enterprising, Mr. VROMAN has assisted in the upbuilding of his city and has 
lent his moral aid to the advancement of all educational and religious 
institutions, and justly enjoys the esteem of a wide circle of friends.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly