Walter Watkins Vrooman (1869 – 2 December, 1909) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

educationalist who co-founded

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

with Charles A. Beard in 1899. He then returned to America, where he set up a second Ruskin College in

Trenton, Missouri Trenton is a city in Grundy County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,609 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Grundy County. The city used to be the world's largest producer of vienna sausages (at its biggest employer, the C ...

. Walter was the son of Judge

Hiram Perkins Vrooman Hiram Perkins Vrooman (24 July 1828, Schenectady – 8 March 1908, Springfield, Massachusetts was an American pioneer, judge and politician. Hiram was one of eight children of John Vrooman and Elizabeth Bingham who had both grown up in New York ...

and Sarah Buffington.

Carl Schurz Vrooman Carl Schurz Vrooman (October 25, 1872 - April 8, 1966) was the Assistant United States Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson. He started the victory garden campaign during World War I. Vroomanwas born in Macon, Missouri, to Judge Hiram Pe ...

was his younger brother. The family moved to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, where another brother,

Hiram Greeley Vrooman Hiram may refer to: People * Hiram (name) Places * Hiram, Georgia ** Hiram High School, Hiram, Georgia * Hiram, Maine * Hiram, Missouri * Hiram, Ohio ** Hiram College, a private liberal arts college located in Hiram, Ohio ***Hiram Terriers, th ...

, joined the

Associate Reformed Church The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC), as it exists today, is the historical descendant of the Synod of the South, a Synod of the Associate Reformed Church. The original Associate Reformed Church resulted from a merger of the Associate ...

and became a preacher. He also founded the Union for Public Good in conjunction with B. O. Flower. Amne Grafflin was attracted to this organisation and accepted the position of secretary. She was the heiress to George Grafflin, who was a dry goods and fertilizer merchant. Shortly after he died, Amne married Walter in February 1897.

The Grafflin inheritance

George W. Grafflin had died intestate in November, 1896. His estate was valued as being between $600,000 and $1,000,000. Amne announced her proposed marriage to Vrooman in January 1897. Her brother William Grafflin was very upset by this. As Vrooman was living in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, where Amne would shortly join him, Amne agreed to give William power of attorney for her. As William had been a partner in the company with his deceased father, this was to enable him to deal with day to day issues of the company. However after she moved to St Louis, she regretted this decision, but when she attempted to have the power of attorney rescinded, the court refused to do so.

Works

* ''Dynamic Religion'', Baltimore: Patriotic Literature Publishing co. (1895)
''Government ownership in production and distribution: being an account of 337 now existing national and municipal undertakings in the 100 principal countries of the world
', Baltimore: Patriotic Literature Publishing co. (1895) *

', St Louis: Witt Printing Co. (1897)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vrooman, Walter 1869 births American socialists 1909 deaths