SOUTH RIVER, June 21—The Booream family in South River dates back to the pre-Revolutionary days and has numbered among its different branches some of the best families in the borough. Thomas Booream, Nicholas and Willet Booream, of former generations, and Charles, Clark and Raymond Booream, of recent generations, are members of this famous family, whose ancestors came to this country from Holland in the early part of the 17th century.

An interesting article written by Maurice E McLaughlin and appearing in the Brooklyn Eagle, gives a short account of the Booream family as early pioneers and settlers in Brooklyn and party [sic] of New Jersey. In part, the article claims that the Boerums (Dutch spelling) in the good old days, when Brooklyn was in its swaddling clothes, ranked with the leaders, and that is why their memory is preserved in street names.

In 1649 Hendrick (Van Boerum) Willemse came here from Amsterdam with his father at the age of seven. His name appears in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, assessment rolls of 1675, and in the census of 1698. He became an American citizen in 1687. In 1679 he bought a large farm from his father. For a number of years he and his family occupied it and tilled the soil.

Among the descendants of this pioneer was Henry Booream, who was born on April 8, 1793. He was a farmer noted for his thrift and industry. He was probably the first real estate man on the east side of the East river. In 1853, when De Kalb avenue was opened through a farm he had acquired, he began selling lots and helped the purchasers by loaning them money to make improvements and put up their homes. He served two terms as assessor and two terms as alderman of the old Ninth Ward.

In commenting on this bit of history, Miss Alice Booaream [sic], of Reid street, a member of one of the oldest families in South River, and whose father and grandfather were numbered among the most skilled shipbuilders in this part of the country, said:

"Hendrick Van Boerum, the son of Willemse Van Booraem, came to this country in 1649 from the village of Boerum, Province of Groingen, Holland, and settled in Flatbush, L.I., From Flatbush, some members of the family also came to New Jersey and settled near Lawrence Brook, where Judge Nicholas Booraem was born in New Brunswick in 1786. He became a noted personage in the politics of Middlesex county and held the offices of judge, county clerk, county collector, and other notable positions at the hands of the voters and political leaders of his day."

Members of the family are now found in New Brunswick, East Millstone, Milltown, South River, Jamesburg, Hightstown, and other places, all related through family ties with the pioneer Henry Boerum, who settled here almost three…."

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