Henry was born in southern Michigan to a single mother, Rachel Vrooman, and she gave him her last name. At age 8, together with his mother's "Terry" cousins, including Chloe Terry whose diary preserved the family's journey from Michigan to Oregon in 1852, Henry came west, embarking on a combination of school and work in Oregon and northern California before becoming established in Oakland, California in the 1860s. Henry worked as a blacksmith in Shaw's Flat, Tuolumne County during the Civil War period (1861-65), where his aunt and uncle Julia and Tarleton Caldwell were pioneers. Henry continued his work as a blacksmith through to his arrival in Oakland, but then with higher education obtained at the College School (associated with the College of California) and the Pacific Business College in San Francisco, he became an engineer with the Oakland fire department and then a deputy city attorney by 1874. He was elected City Attorney, elected District Attorney of Alameda County, elected State Senator from Oakland, which he served in the legislature from 1881-1889 when he died unexpectedly a few months shy of his 45th birthday. He left a lasting family and political legacy. His purchase of the Vrooman family plot in Mountain View Cemetery has led to the interment of remains from his mother, himself and his wife Emily (Jordan) Vrooman, his daughters, his grandsons and his great granddaughters. (As of 2020).

Henry was born in southern Michigan to a single mother, Rachel Vrooman, and she gave him her last name. At age 8, together with his mother's "Terry" cousins, including Chloe Terry whose diary preserved the family's journey from Michigan to Oregon in 1852, Henry came west, embarking on a combination of school and work in Oregon and northern California before becoming established in Oakland, California in the 1860s. Henry worked as a blacksmith in Shaw's Flat, Tuolumne County during the Civil War period (1861-65), where his aunt and uncle Julia and Tarleton Caldwell were pioneers. Henry continued his work as a blacksmith through to his arrival in Oakland, but then with higher education obtained at the College School (associated with the College of California) and the Pacific Business College in San Francisco, he became an engineer with the Oakland fire department and then a deputy city attorney by 1874. He was elected City Attorney, elected District Attorney of Alameda County, elected State Senator from Oakland, which he served in the legislature from 1881-1889 when he died unexpectedly a few months shy of his 45th birthday. He left a lasting family and political legacy. His purchase of the Vrooman family plot in Mountain View Cemetery has led to the interment of remains from his mother, himself and his wife Emily (Jordan) Vrooman, his daughters, his grandsons and his great granddaughters. (As of 2020).