Evan was born on October 30, 1794, the son of John Groom and Phebe Cooper of Upper Makefield, Bucks County.1 He inherited £5 in 1805 from his grandfather Thomas Cooper, but nothing from his father, who died in debt in 1810. Evan’s mother died when he was young. He grew up with three older siblings, who probably took him in after his father’s death.2 He may have been especially close to his sister Phebe who married John Hagerman, since Mary Hagerman, Phebe’s daughter, named one of her sons Evan Groom Atkinson.

About 1818 Evan married Rachel Randall, daughter of George Randall, a shoemaker of Bensalem, and his wife Rachel Ridge. Evan and Rachel settled in Southampton, where he was a successful farmer and stone mason.3 In the census records they always had a large family, both living with them and nearby. In 1830 they had 14 people in their household. In 1850 their five youngest children were still living with them. In 1860 they were next door to their son Frank and his wife Harriet. In the 1870 census Evan, Rachel, and their daughter Rebecca shared a house with two servants, one of whom was Rachel’s older sister Grace Randall. They were next door to Emaline and Jacob Van Horn.

Evan was described as Captain Groom in the marriage notice of his daughter Emaline.4 This was not just an honorific, since he had served in the militia as a young man. “The firing of the British frigate, Leopard, on the Chesapeake, in 1807, caused an outburst of patriotism among the Bucks county militia, and steps were taken to form volunteer companies…The President called for 93,500 militia, of which Pennsylvania was to furnish 14,000…The martial spirit of the young men of Bucks County was greatly stimulated by the war with Great Britain..By 1822 there were 19 companies in the county, the greater part of them were riflemen, a popular arm in the war just closed.”5 Evan Groom was the captain of one of those companies. When Evan died, the Doylestown Democrat said of him, “Although he never set a squadron in the field, or faced the foe in grim visaged war, it was from want of opportunity not of will. He had a natural fondness for military life, and there be many of us now in middle life, who well remember as amid the exciting events of boyhood, how our Captain marched in martial pomp at the head of his large company of riflemen – a wearing of the green!… the gallant Groom and his brave boys, preceded by martial music, were the cynosures of each eye, the admiration of all hearts.”6

He worked at first as a mason, and bought his first land in 1813, a two-acre lot in Southampton on the county line.7 He enlarged his holdings with at least ten more purchases from 1826 through 1857.8 In the early deeds he still called himself a mason.9

In 1853 he had the honor of representing Bucks County in the State Representative Assembly as a Democrat. He traveled to Harrisburg when the Assembly was in session.10 The Republican Compiler, a newspaper of the time, recorded Groom as voting yea on a routine amendment to the Commonwealth Constitution, along with the rest of the House of Representatives.11

Evan made his will in 1869 and died on 11 February 1872.12 He was 78 years old.13 In his will Evan named nine of his children. He signed his will with an X. Since he had signed documents earlier, this was probably a physical disability at the time he made the will. He was living on the Attleborough Road in Southampton. This was in Bucks County, not Philadelphia, but he was buried at William Penn Cemetery in Somerton, Philadelphia County, a few miles south across the county line. His son, Evan Jerome the doctor, was one of the executors, along with a son-in-law Charles Willets. Evan bought land over a forty-year period in both Southampton and Bensalem, and evidently became quite wealthy. His estate was worth over $35,000. The inventory showed the possessions of a well-to-do farmer of the time, including livestock, grain, farm machinery, a two-horse carriage, sleigh, wagons and a sulky and nine rooms worth of household goods. In his will he requested that his executors “enclose my burial lot in the William Penn cemetery with neat iron railing and also put up head and foot stones at my grave and also have my name on the gate of said lot.”14

He left extra money to his daughter Rebecca for her “extra services”. He left his wife Rachel her choice of household goods to furnish “one room complete” and directed his executors to sell his other real estate and property and use the interest from four thousand dollars to support Rachel. Although she died before him, he did not rewrite his will after her death.

Children of Evan and Rachel:  (none named for their grandparents)

Lydia Ann, b. 1818, d. 1908, m. Benjamin Worthington, son of John and Sarah. Benjamin grew up in Byberry, and married Lydia Groom before 1839. He worked as a storekeeper, but moved around between Philadelphia County and Bucks County, from Bensalem, to Moreland, then Warrington. Benjamin died in 1876, and Lydia lived in Cheltenham, first with her daughter, later with her children Emmor and Rebecca.15 She died in Somerton and was buried at William Penn cemetery in Somerton.16 Children: Watson, Elmira, Annie Rebecca, William Emmor, Rachel.17

Warren, b. ab. 1821, d. 1898, m. Rachel Richardson, had five children, kept the Brick Hotel in Newtown.18 Rachel died in 1866 at the age of 46, of consumption. In 1870 Warren was a hotel keeper, and later a bartender.19 He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1898, living on the Oxford Pike at Neshaminy Falls, Bucks County. He is buried at William Penn cemetery with his wife.20 Children: Owen, Evan, Elizabeth, Lafayette, Fanny.

Owen, b. 1824, d. 1898, m. Rachel –. The last name of his wife is not known; some Ancestry trees give it as Ridge.21 He worked as a hotel keeper in Somerton, later farmed in Buckingham. Later in life Owen and Rachel lived with their nephew Augustus Willett on a farm in Bensalem. He died in 1898 and is buried at William Penn cemetery. His wife died before him.22 Children: Warren, Louisa, Ellen, Franklin, Annadell, William, Benjamin, Owen.23

Emaline, b. 1825, m. Jacob Van Horn in 1848; they named two of their children Evan and Rachel. Jacob was a farmer, first in Southampton next door to Evan and Rachel, later in Warminster, Bucks County.24 Emaline died in 1907 in Abington.25 Children: Evan, Rachel, Mary.

Rebecca, b. 1828, d. 1905, did not marry; lived with relatives, first with her parents, then her nephew Augustus Willett, later her brother-in-law William Willard (probably keeping house for him after her sister died). Rebecca died in 1905 and is buried at William Penn cemetery.26

Elizabeth, b. 1831, d. 1903, m. Charles Willett in 1850 in Bensalem. Charles was a farmer in Bensalem, who served as a county commissioner and served a term in the state legislature (like his father-in-law Evan Groom). Charles died in 1875 from pneumonia.27 Elizabeth died in 1903. Their son Augustus Willett was a farmer who in 1880 was supporting his widowed mother Elizabeth, his two younger sisters, his wife, his little daughter Lillie, his uncle Owen Groom, and aunt Rebecca.28 Augustus died at age 39 of consumption.29 Children of Elizabeth and Charles: Augustus, Elizabeth, Emma.

Evan Jerome, b. 1833, d. 1921, m. Mary Louisa Carter in 1856, later married Elizabeth Anderson.30 He became a doctor and lived in Bristol, Bucks County.31 He was active in the community. In 1873 he was invited, with other leading men of the town of Bristol, to meet to form an association to promote the interests of the town, especially by attracting manufacturers to settle there. They agreed that the town needed to provide inducements such as waterworks, and needed to deal with issues such as the police, the “speed of the trains”, and the “blowing of the locomotive whistles”.32 Evan died in 1921 and was buried in Bristol Cemetery.33 Children of Evan and Mary: Rebecca, Ellen, Ellerslie, Albert, Rachel (adopted). He left a will naming his wife Elizabeth, although she died before him, his son, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law and a grandson.

Franklin H., b. 1835, m. Harriet Plumly in 1858. He was a stone mason. They lived in Southampton, where their neighbors in 1870 were also stone masons.34 Frank died in 1901; Harriet died in 1920. Child of Frank and Harriet: Elwood.

Ellen, b. ab. 1840, d. 1898, m. William Willard35. William was a sawyer. They lived in Moreland, always close to other relatives or with relatives living with them. After Ellen died, Rebecca Groom kept house for William.36 Ellen and William apparently had no children.