Charlotte Rebecca Woglom
The Van Woggelum Family Genealogist
1868-

Forty relatives were present at a reception and reunion of the Woglum family at the home of Mrs. Bleecker Bangs (neé Charlotte Rebecca Woglom) on Thursday, 22 Feb 1900 at 400 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. The following clipping from the New York Herald, 23 Feb 1900, relates the story of the meeting.

Charlotte Rebecca Woglom was born in Jul 1868 in New York City, the child of Capt. Abraham Wesley Woglom and Sarah Jane Woglum. Rebecca married 21 Oct 1891 Bleecker Bangs of Brooklyn, who was born Mar 1863, son of Anson Bangs and Margaret Bleecker.

Mrs. Bangs wrote Our Ancestors, a genealogy of the De Nyse, Cole, Woglom, Cropsey, Van Barkelo, and Winant families. The book was published by the Press of the Kings County Journal, Brooklyn, NY, in 1896.

Descent from the Baron Van Woggelum is family tradition, rather than documented fact.

A transcription of the article appears below the image, you may want to scroll down to read it while the actual image is loading.

New York Herald, 23 Feb 1900

WOGLUM FAMILY NOW REUNITED

First Reunion of Kinsfolk of Old American House Has Many Interesting Features.

COUSINS ARE INTRODUCED.

Young Women Had Lived on Opposite Sides of East River for Twenty Years, but Had not Met.

ENVIABLE FAMILY HISTORY.

Descendants of Dutch Baron And American Patriots to Adopt One Name for All Branches.

Woglums, Wogloms and Waglums, all of whom are descendents from Baron Von [sic] Woggelum, decided yesterday, at the first family reunion they are known to have ever had, that they shall hereafter be known by the name of Woglum. Many of them desired to restore the prefix Van, but all would not consent to this. And some of them may hereafter be known as Van Woglum, while others will be plain Woglum.

This reception and reunion were held yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mrs. Bleecker Bangs (neé Woglom), No. 400 Lafayette avenue, Brooklyn. She is a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, and for that organization she has been engaged for some time in collecting data for her family's history. She says historic research has become her hobby. She wrote to many Wogloms, Woglums, and Waglums for data, and found much that was deeply interesting. She also learned that the family was not united, and that children were strangers to cousins because grandparents had become estranged. And that various ways of spelling the family name had been adopted.

ALL ARE ACQUAINTED NOW.

She then decided to have a reunion at her home. One result of the reunion is that all descendents of the Beron are now friends. Forty Wogloms and Woglums were present, and twenty wrote letters of regret from five different States. But one Waglum was heard from. He lives in Michigan, and wrote that he regretted his inability to attend the reception.

Two charming young women met yesterday for the first time. They are first cousins. One is Miss Lucy Woglum, and the other Miss Florence Woglom. One has lived in Manhattan and the other in Brooklyn ever since they were born, twenty years ago. They presided at the refreshment table yesterday...

[lacuna]

...Brooklyn for forty eears, met another william Woglom, of Brooklyn, yesterday, and paid to him:-

"I have often seen your name in the directory and have wondered who you were."

Then they compared records, and the older man said to the younger, "Why, you are my stepbrother's son." There were several such scenes, and two sections of the family who were estranged because their fathers quarrelled over a will met and greeted each other for the first time since they parted thirty years ago.

SOME FAMILY HISTORY.

Family history, prepared by Mrs. Bangs and read yesterday, showa that Jan Van Woggelum, a descendent from Baron Ban Woggelum, came to America in the ship Spotted Cow, of the city of Alkmaar, Holland, in 1645. Woggelum, the village from which the emigrant came, was near Alkmaar. Jan had two sons, Jan and Pieter. Their land grant was where Hoboken, N. J., now is. The place was then called Hobeck. They vacated this land and went to Staten Island, taking a grant on the shore of Kill von [sic] Kull, neat the present cillage of Rossville. They did not sell the New Jersey land, but the State seized it. The historian says Hoboken land titles do not go beyond State titles, and that this fact accounts for the slow development of that remarkable city.

Jan, Jr., and Pieter, and their descendents, became idenitified with Staten Isalnd history, and a John Van Woglem, as the name is recorded, was a member of the Colonial Assembly in 1696-1698. Five Woglums were patriots in the Revolutionary war. John A. was a captain; John a lieutenant, and Abraham, and still another John were privates.

In the century now ending lived Cornelius Woglum, citizen, soldier and public man, whom Congress honored for services rendered by exempting his land grants from taxes and him from jury duty for the term of his life. He was identified with the building of Forts Hamilton, Wadsworth and Schuyler.

Captain Woglom was one of the guard of honor to escort General Lafayette from New York to Bunker Hill on the occasion of that French patriot's visit to America. This Woglom built the first hotel to be erected at Coney Island. His second cousin, Police Captain Cornelius Woglom was in command of the Bedford avenur police station for more than thirty years, until he died, a few years ago. He was called the "Mayor of Williamsburg." The Abraham Woglom branch of the family was identified with the founding of the Petersbury packet line, later known as the Old Dominion Steamship Company.

ONE WAS A KITE FLYER.

Gilbert Totten Woglom was the first scientific kite flyer in New York. He is now associated with Mr. Eddy, of New Jersey, in experimenting with kites. He was at yesterday's reception.

Old wills of the family, some made as early as 1712, were read and heirlooms, sch as guns and swords carried in wars, were exhibited yesterday.

Woglums, as members of the family are to be known hereafter, agreed to have annual reunions in the future.

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The image of the article from the New York Herald, 23 Feb 1900, was kindly provided by Tom van Baar t.vanbaar@quicknet.nl. Tom is a Van Woggelum researcher in the Netherlands.

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Charlotte Rebecca Woglom