The Booraem, Boerum, and Van Boerum families belong to that noble and stalwart group of colonists and settlers who came originally from Holland to New Netherland, and then emigrated agains from the province of New York to the province of New Jersey where they made names and homes for themselves and reputations for their descendants to be proud of and to imitate.

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• Willem Jacobse, founder of the family, was a resident of the little village of Boerum in Friesland, and being a staunch adherent of the Prince of Orange, he found himself obliged in order to escape the persecution under the Duke of Alva and the Spanish Inquisition, to leave his native landfor the freedom and safety of the western world. Consequently he emigrated with his two sons, Hendrick and Jacob, to New Amsterdam in 1657 [sic], and settling at Flatbush spent there the remainder of his life. He was born in 1617, and died before 1698. In 1657 and in 1662 and 1663, he is recorded as being one of the magistrates of the town. His name is on the assessment roll of 1675, and he took the oath of allegiance there in 1687. He married Geertje Hendrickse and had four children who are of record: 1. Hendrick Willemse who is referred to below; 2. Jacob Willemse, emigrated with his father and brother, died before 1698, and married June 15, 1684, Geertruy De Beavois, from Leyden. 3. Geertruy Willemse, probably a person of that name who married Francis du Puis; 4. Hillegont Willemse.

• Hendrick Willemse van Boerum, the eldest son of Willem Jacobse and Geertje Hendrickse, was born in Boerum, about 1642, accompanied his father in his emigration to this country, and is found in Flatbush in 1675 and 1676, and in the census of 1698 is registered among the inhabitants of New Lots. In 1687 he took the oath of allegiance in Flatbush, and two years previously he was one of the patentees of the town in the charter of Governor Dongan. May 27, 1679, he bought of his father a farm in Flatbush adjoining on the south side his father's plantation and on the north that of the Widow Hegeman, deceased, with meadows at Canarsie and lot number 16 in the new lots of the said town. About 1663 he married Maria Ariaens and had four children of record: 1. Hendrick, baptized July 22, 1683. 2. Arie or Adriaen, who removed to Freehold, NJ, born 1666, married Sarah Smock. 3. Louise, baptized in Flatbush, oct 24, 1680. 4. Hendrick, who is referred to below.

• Hendrick, son of Hendrick Willemse and Maria Ariaense Boerum, was born in Flatbush. He changed the name to its present spelling; he moved to Bound Brook.. Among his children was Nicholas, who is referred to below.

• Nicholas, son of Hendrick Booraem, was born near Bound Brook, Somerset county, NJ, in 1714, and settled near New Brunswick. Among his children was Nicholas, who is referred to below.

• Nicholas (2), son of Nicholas (1) Booraem, was born near New Brunswick, NJ, in 1736, and served in the revolutionary army. Among his children was Nicholas, who is referred to below.

• Nicholas (3), son of Nicholas (2) Booraem, was born near New Brunswick, New Jersey, and died in 1869. During the war of 1812 he served with distinction as the colonel of a NJ regiment and lost his hearing by the explosion of a cannon during a battle. He was a Whig, a member of the NJ assembly, one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas for Middlesex county, and for 42 years the county treasurer. He was also an elder in the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. By his wife, Sarah (Willet) Booraem, who came also of revolutionary stock, he had 12 children: 1. Eliza, married the Rev John Van Arsdale. 2. Ellen, married Thomas Booraem. 3. Emeline, married Charles Smith, M.D. 4. Louisa, married Nicholas Edgar Bookstaver. 5. Henry who entered the United States navy and was killed while home, in the great tornado that swept over New Brunswick, 1836. 6. Augustus, M.D. 7. Theodore, who is referred to below. And five other children who died in their youth.

• Theodore, son of Nicholas (3) and Sarah (Willet) Booraem, was born in New Brunswick, NJ, in 1831, and died there in 1885. He studeid law with Senator Schenck and Judge Van Dyke, and then began as a general practioner in New Brunswick. He went into the insurance business and gave much of hi time to the setting up of estates. He was a Republican and for some time was the collector of Middlesex county. By his wife, Mary (Foster) Booraem, he had three children: 1. Theodore B., who is referred to below. 2. Margaret, married Rev. Henry J. Scudder and is now with her husband as a missionary of the Reformed Church in America in India. 3. Harriet."

• Theodore B., son of Theodore and Mary (Foster) Booraem, was born in New Brunswick, NJ, April 30, 1861, and is now living in that city. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1881 with honors and then studied law with A.V. Schenck. He was admitted to the NJ bar as attorney in 1884, and as cousellor in 1887. He then began practicing in New Brunswick, where his success was brilliant and his advancement rapid. In 1892 he formed a partnership with John S. Voorhees, which continued until the death of the latter. He has devoted much time to corporation law and its problems, is the representative of many of the principal firms in New Brunswick, and is officially connected with many companies. In 1904 he was appointed assistant U.S. attorney for the district of NJ, which office he held until April 1909, when he became prosecutor of the pleas of Middlesex county, which office he now holds. He has also been city attorney for the city of New Brunswick, and a director in a number of business corporations of the city. He is also a member of many organizations, among them being the Holland Society of New York, and the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he is an active member. He is a member of the Second Reformed Church of New Brunswick.