Boomershine Genealogy

To the Boomershines (and Others Who May Give a Rip),

The Boomershine Geneology through Roger Boomershine (and specifically through his father, Reuben) is the work of Susanna Homan. To date, she has compiled more than 2,900 descendants. The line includes more than 300 kings (mostly French, English and Northern Europoean), and the earliest birth date I have seen so far is AD 40. It’s really amazing. Equally interesting are the four generations of American Boomershines who came before Reuben.

The “deep in history” names that have been the most interesting to me are Hugh Capet, William I (William the Conqueror), King Louis I and some afterwards, and Charlemagne (the Father of Europe).

Genealogies are a gift because they:

• Allow us to unhinge ourselves from our chronological snobbery–that self-centeredness that makes us see ourselves, our time, our corner of the world as the center of reality.
• can help us understand our present better when we we understand our past better.
• Inspire us. The kings in our line are really our line. Aren’t they?
• Help us live differently now.

Genealogies are also a way of refusing to remove the ancient landmarks referred to in Proverbs. They help us keep walls up that should be up. They help us know where our fathers stood.

In that vein, I have lamented publicly numerous times about how myopic we are, almost completely unable to remember the names of anyone in our family more than two or three generations older than us. And if so, we only know their names. Consider your story and how it will be remembered in three generations.

At first glance, it appears our story is rich with high-profile, global personalities…that we know almost nothing about. Go digging!

Here’s where to start (trying to make this as simple as possible):

Susanna’s findings are in three files:

1. a data file that has the comprehensive findings. [GEDCOM is a common form of geneology file that can be opened and transferred between genealogy programs.]
2. a .PDF that lists the major characters since 1500 about whom she found stories worth relaying (about 9 pages).
3. a .PDF that lists the major characters before 1500 about whom she found stories worth relaying (about 45 pages).

The data file can only be read by importing it into a genealogy program. If you don’t have one on your computer, you could download this Personal Ancestral File available from the Latter Day Saints [or so called].

To install this program,

1. 1. You will need to supply them with a real or fake name and email address.
   2. Choose to download the Free Family History Software.
   3. You may prefer the English version.
   4. Ignore any “this file will harm your computer” warnings.
   5. Install the program.
   6. I wasn’t paying close enough attention when I did this next part, but you will need to import the GEDCOM file into the program, which means you need to have already downloaded it (instructions to follow).
   7. There may be one step to do before importing.

When the GEDCOM file (boomershine.ged) is imported, the whole family tree will be there, but you can only see a portion at a time. I find this free program to be very limiting and frustrating, but the information is interesting and enjoyable to view. I will continue searching for something more tolerable.

The most useful ways of viewing the files are through the Pedigree (this one especially) or Individual tabs. In the pedigree tab, you will see a three generation view and can use the arrow keys to trace your way back. I don’t see a way of viewing the tree as a whole, which is frustrating because there are almost innumerable ways of tracing the history back and you can only see three generations at a time…but it’s free.

If you need hands-on help installing and viewing these files, there are ways that I can help by syncing our computers together to allow me to remotely access your computer to do the work.

Lastly, the files:

Here they are for you to download:

Boomershine Major Players BEFORE 1500 (pdf)

Boomershine Major Players SINCE 1500 (pdf)

Boomershine Genealogy Data File (gedcom file)

Now lastly, for real…

This page is semi-private. Feel free to leave comments here about things that you see/find and about and with kudos for Susanna. She doesn’t claim full accuracy, but has striven hard to present as much accuracy as possible. Now she’s taking up the work on the Viola Boomershine tree.