Emily Jordan was the child of Annis Stearns Jordan and Robert Keating Jordan, and she was born in Fulton County, Ohio, near Cincinnati, both parents having been brought by their parents from longstanding home areas in Maine. Emily, her brothers, her father and stepmother took the hard journey on the Oregon and California Trail in the fall of 1859 and arrived at the Sacramento River in Shasta County in early April 1860, where Emily’s brother Frank Chester Jordan was born. (Frank was later the longest serving Secretary of State in California history, having started his public service career in the office of his brother in law, Emily’s husband Henry Vrooman.)

Emily and Henry had three daughters, and Henry died in 1889, making Emily a widow at age 42. Emily smartly managed the development and education of her daughters and the estate her husband left. They had lived in the Claremont District of North Oakland, near Berkeley, and after Henry’s death they moved to downtown Oakland. Her daughters attended Oakland High. Emily’s occupation (as she reported it to her census taker) became Capitalist, as recorded on passport applications. Her eldest child, Rachel Vrooman Colby, graduated with honors from Hastings College of the Law, and was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court in 1898, circumstances so unique in that era, it was reported in the New York Times.

Emily acquired and managed a large walnut orchard and summer home in Santa Rosa, where her daughter Mae married her husband Cleaveland Forbes. Her orchard was known as “Walnutmere” and celebrated for its successful cultivation and introduction of the Franquette Walnut, noted in the newspapers of the times.

Emily died of tuberculous and was cremated at Odd Fellows Cemetery, San Francisco, on March 18 1910. Her ashes were sent to Oakland where they were interred with the grave of her husband Henry in the Vrooman plot in Mountain View Cemetery. Her daughters Rachel and Beatrice also have their remains interred near their parents in the Vrooman plot which was purchased by Henry Vrooman ahead of his mother Rachel (Vrooman) Morgan’s death in 1882.

Emily Jordan was the child of Annis Stearns Jordan and Robert Keating Jordan, and she was born in Fulton County, Ohio, near Cincinnati, both parents having been brought by their parents from longstanding home areas in Maine. Emily, her brothers, her father and stepmother took the hard journey on the Oregon and California Trail in the fall of 1859 and arrived at the Sacramento River in Shasta County in early April 1860, where Emily’s brother Frank Chester Jordan was born. (Frank was later the longest serving Secretary of State in California history, having started his public service career in the office of his brother in law, Emily’s husband Henry Vrooman.)

Emily and Henry had three daughters, and Henry died in 1889, making Emily a widow at age 42. Emily smartly managed the development and education of her daughters and the estate her husband left. They had lived in the Claremont District of North Oakland, near Berkeley, and after Henry’s death they moved to downtown Oakland. Her daughters attended Oakland High. Emily’s occupation (as she reported it to her census taker) became Capitalist, as recorded on passport applications. Her eldest child, Rachel Vrooman Colby, graduated with honors from Hastings College of the Law, and was admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court in 1898, circumstances so unique in that era, it was reported in the New York Times.

Emily acquired and managed a large walnut orchard and summer home in Santa Rosa, where her daughter Mae married her husband Cleaveland Forbes. Her orchard was known as “Walnutmere” and celebrated for its successful cultivation and introduction of the Franquette Walnut, noted in the newspapers of the times.

Emily died of tuberculous and was cremated at Odd Fellows Cemetery, San Francisco, on March 18 1910. Her ashes were sent to Oakland where they were interred with the grave of her husband Henry in the Vrooman plot in Mountain View Cemetery. Her daughters Rachel and Beatrice also have their remains interred near their parents in the Vrooman plot which was purchased by Henry Vrooman ahead of his mother Rachel (Vrooman) Morgan’s death in 1882.