Frank Booma, UNH student and World War I casualty

My wife Stephanie Toland-Tufts’ great- great uncle Frank Booma is memorialized in Portsmouth, NH and at the University of New Hampshire. He was a University of New Hampshire student (then New Hampshire College) and was the first casualty from Portsmouth where the American Legion post is named for him. He is remembered at the Memorial Union Building at UNH. (Please see my previous blog on his nephews who were star athletes at Dartmouth College.)

 Frank Everett Booma (Junior) was born Jan 24, 1893 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Frank E. (senior) and Martha (Field) Booma. Frank senior was the son of Francis Booma of Deep River Connecticut. I have not found much information on Francis. Census records indicate he was from Canada but this is not confirmed. The book French-Canadian Emigrants to New England, An account of the Booma family may have the answers. It is in several libraries including the Baker Berry library at Dartmouth but I have not seen it (yet). Frank senior may have been a hotel worker around the time of his marriage in Lancaster, NH. He is listed in the census (along with many other hotel employees); and the occupation is illegible [looks like “Barber.”].

1880 Lancaster NH census

1900 Portsmouth NH census

By 1900 the Boomas had removed to Portsmouth where Frank Sr. was a pressman or printer. Frank enjoyed childhood in Portsmouth. He even made the paper when he was injured at the railroad station according to this report in the Portsmouth Herald. Later he recovered enough to compete in numerous sports.  Many sports articles can be found in that newspaper relating his accomplishments.

1898 Portsmouth Herald

Frank Jr. attended local schools and was a star athlete. He played football and basketball at the YMCA and graduated from Portsmouth High school in 1910.He took post graduate classes and captained the 1911 football and basketball teams. Before college he worked for Silas Pierce Company as a clerk.

In 1915 he attended New Hampshire College (which became the University of New Hampshire).  While there, he was a member of the football team, basketball team, and the rope-pull team.

 "class of 1917 football team-unidentified"

 The rope pull was a competition between classes

Cadet Corps 1917

I have not found information about whether he was a 2- or 4- year student , but when America joined the war in 1917 he was at Plattsburgh, NY for training with the Reserve Officers Corps. This could have been part of his participation in the cadets at NHC.  The training center was where he was when he filled out his draft card.

 After graduating with honors, he was commissioned with the rank of second lieutenant and assigned to the 151^st Field Artillery. The 151^st was a Minnesota National Guard unit and was part of the newly formed 42nd Division. This division was made up of numerous National Guard troops from many states. They trained and assembled in Long Island before shipping overseas in October 1917. The journey was a difficult one due to ship conditions, rough seas, and the danger of attack by German submarines.

Frank’s unit trained hard once they arrived in Europe. He wrote home in November 1917 and reported training with the French artillery and studying their language. This was related in the Portsmouth Herald November 15, 1917. His unit and others were moved to the front in February 1918 in the Lorraine section of the line. They were well involved in the battle there and even though not much ground changed hands, they traded artillery barrages daily. In June they were relieved and moved to the Champagne area where the Americans were directly in the face of a German offensive. Lt Booma was killed by a shell in the town of Vadenay on July 15. (Other reports may state July 11.) The newspaper printed the death notice on page one on July 30.The notice was followed by notices of his memorial and commentary. These can be seen at ancestry.com or possibly the Portsmouth library.

Frank Booma’s body was initially interred in France but in 1921, it was removed to Portsmouth where he was memorialized and buried in the south cemetery. A memorial is also on the green by the baseball park on Islington Street in Portsmouth. Lt. Booma never married and left no descendants. His niece, Emily Catherine Booma Dame (my wife’s great- grandmother) has living descendants in the seacoast area. The rest of Frank’s relatives may also have living descendants, but they have not been researched. 

151st Field Artillery

Link to Portsmouth memorial story: The scrappy genealogist blog:

http://www.scrappygenealogist.com/2011/11/soldiers-who-died-in-world-war-i.html

A good written history of the 151^st Field Artillery: http://books.google.com/books?id=Wt9szgAACAAJ&dq=history+of+the+151st+field+artillery

Another history of the 151^st:

http://www.minnesotanationalguard.org/units/unit_template.php?unit=PU3AA

Photo credits:

UNH library digital collections

http://www.library.unh.edu/digital/

Dartmouth Hockey, Football and the “Booma” Award

Two brothers, Harold and Roland Booma were star athletes at Dartmouth College and the hockey rookie of the year award is called the Booma. These brothers are my wife, Stephanie’s, great-great uncles. Their half sister Emily Catherine was Stephanie’s great- grandmother. Emily’s uncle, Frank Booma, was a New Hampshire soldier killed in World War I and the American Legion Post in Portsmouth is named for him.

Harold E. Booma for whom the award is named was born on the 4^th of July in 1908. His parents, Scott Booma and Annie May Stevens, were married in 1906 in Milton Mills, NH and were living in Swampscott, MA 2 years after his birth so he was probably born there. Scott was from Lancaster, NH and Anna from Milton Mills, NH. There were many Stevens from this area including Tufts kin and the Booma records lead back to Connecticut and Canada. The opportunity for research of both these lines is apparent. A copy of the book French-Canadian Emigrants to New England. An account of the Booma family would probably have the full story but I have not found a copy except in the Baker Berry library at Dartmouth. Harold would have attended Swampscott schools and then went to Dartmouth where he graduated in 1930. In 1929 he was in the Delta Nu fraternity (which was overseen by my great-uncle Nathaniel Burleigh). The yearbook “Aegis” lists Harold on the football team as a left end and a right defenseman on the hockey team. He captained the hockey team for the 1929-1930 season. He certainly appears to have been a standout athlete, playing baseball as well. His name must appear in local newspapers and sports sections of the day. He was awarded the Kenneth Archibald Prize for outstanding athletic achievement and scholarship. He is mentioned in one book describing the Yale game which was always a rival at Dartmouth (Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession by Mark F. Bernstein) (http://books.google.com/books?id=n3i4KOu7MiEC&dq=harold+Booma). Many other records are available at the Dartmouth athletics website http://www.dartmouthsports.com/

The 1929-1930 season was the first in Davis rink. Before this they played outdoors at Ocom pond.

There is even some film footage of the Dartmouth-Yale game in 1929

http://www.efootage.com/stock-footage/54679/Yale_Vs_Dartmouth_Hockey_Game_-_1929/

The Boomas also enjoyed outdoors hunting sports. There is a picture in the Dartmouth library collection of a group called the “Bait and Bullet” club with another called the “Eight for Eight”. The Eight for Eight club is pictured at the Merrill Brook cabin in Dartmouth Grant lands of northern NH. They apparently had a good year: at least two nice bucks are pictured and eight total deer for eight hunters. The letter accompanying the picture mentions that Harold is the first on left and his brother Roland is fifth from left. It also says the fourth from left is the president of the United Shoe Machinery Company where Harold worked. (United Shoe was a very large shoe equipment company in Beverly MA.) He is listed in census and directories available at ancestry.com as a manager and one trade magazine (Steel vol. 159 1966) states he was a vice president. He is also mentioned in the Who's Who in America. 38th edition, 1974-1975 and Who's Who in Finance and Industry. 18th edition, 1974-1975 presumably for his accomplishments with the company.  Harold  and his wife Dorothy settled in Marblehead by 1940 and raised 2 sons, Scott and Richard. Richard also played hockey at Dartmouth.

Roland Clayton Booma was born June 11, 1906 and died May 8, 1977. His wife was Dorothy Margaret MacLean. They had a son, Roland C. Booma, Jr., and lived in Salem and Lynn MA. He started Booma Oil Company which exists today. Roland probably attended local schools before going to Dartmouth where he graduated in 1930. In addition to hockey(?), he also played football and was a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity.

Stephanie and I will add the Frank Booma story when we have completed the research. Many New Hampshire baseball players will be familiar with the name if they follow Legion baseball because the Portsmouth post is named for him.

If anyone has further information on the other families from these Booma families, please post it in the comments or send me an e-mail. We do have information on some but the story is confusing because of name changes and secondary marriages. Also, if anyone has sports memorabilia or news copy of the Dartmouth teams of 1928-1930, please let us know in the comments section or by e-mail. As of this writing, we have accumulated data that result in this story about Emily Catherine. If there are errors and anyone has verifiable information, please let us know. This is one of those genealogical mysteries that we feel is very close to being solved.

Emily Catherine Booma was born Sept. 1, 1902 in Portsmouth, NH and died Jan. 24, 1995. She was the daughter of Scott Booma and Mary (Monahan) (his first wife). Emily grew up in the George W. Dame household when Scott Booma remarried and went to Massachusetts. When she married William Sears (or Cyr) she had adopted the name Dame and her mother had remarried Percy Freeman after George Dame’s death. She later adopted the name Cyr even though it may have been Sears. She had three daughters Margaret, Catherine and Lyla. Margaret died very young, Catherine died in a house fire with her daughter, and Lyla is my wife Stephanie Catherine Toland-Tufts’ grandmother on her mother’s side. Many of her descendents are living today but will not be published here. They include members of the Kidd, Grogan, Harris, Jordan, and Toland families.

Dartmouth library collections available on the internet were used in this story: http://libarchive.dartmouth.edu/cdm/search/searchterm/Booma

Football at Dartmouth history and archives:

http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=654340

Hockey at Dartmouth history and archives:

http://www.dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=204998850

Yearbook pictures used above are available at ancestry.com

Tufts Family Genealogy Blog

 

This blog is mostly about the Tufts family in America descended from Peter Tufts who came to Charlestown Massachusetts from England before 1638. I hope to share many great stories of Tufts families and individuals. I also will share things I have found on other Tufts families besides Peter’s many descendants. They include Tufft families from Ireland and other areas of England and those that remain to be discovered. I will also explore the many other families related to the Tufts and share their stories as well. Hopefully this will include the family of my wife (Toland), and Staples, Bakers and Cummings from my mother’s ancestry.

Much of the information I have found on the Tufts comes from the research of Herbert Adams whose work was published by the Tufts Kinsmen Association in 2010 and his earlier edition of Tufts Kinsmen. Other resources will be credited for readers to discover original records. I try to be as thorough as possible in my research and will indicate anything less than fact. I have found that to be accurate, one has to see the original records and verify their accuracy. If errors exist I am always receptive to correction.

I hope people will feel free to comment on my blog and share information with others. If you feel you have a blog idea for me please let me know. There are many stories out there waiting to be shared. I will try and attend this at least once a week, but I know that may be affected by my many other interests.

I am Thomas Tufts. I grew up in Exeter NH and currently reside in Raymond NH. After 30 years of firefighting, I now enjoy my retirement by researching family history, specializing in the military Tufts and my direct ancestors to Peter Tufts, the immigrant. Please enjoy these stories about the Tufts and other families.