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Although I know of earlier people, it is with Allegonda that this report starts. That is because this document is based on the Family Register, and the first entries in the Family Register were written by Allegonda. The first entry in the Family Register chronicles the marriage of her parents, and the second chronicles her birth. So the first entries were passed to Allegonda by word of mouth from her mother Dorothy Harrison / Boom.
I know very little about Dorothy Harrison. She married Christian Boom in Port Royal Parish in Jamaica on 17 Feb 1737. At her marriage her address is listed as Port Royal Parish and she is described as a widow. I don't even know if Harrison was her name at birth or the surname of her first husband, probably the latter. I have not found any record of the birth of a "Dorothy Harrison" in Jamaica in the Parishes of St Andrew, Kingston or Port Royal. 'Harrison' is a name that was moderately common in Jamaica at that period, less common than Hall and Jackson but much more common than Mallard and Manning.
I should perhaps add a little note about the Boom surname. Several independent sources have BOONE instead of BOOM. However, I'm certain that it's BOOM because the Family Register has BOOM and it's extremely likely that Allegonda Boom would know her own surname. Further, the Parish Registers of Kingston and Port Royal unanimously confirm the BOOM surname and also correctly have BOOM for the surname of Christian Boom junior at the birth of all his children (more of that later). Further, the surname is given as BOOM in the letters from Jessie Astwood to Isabel Paterson in the period 1924 to 1930. On the other side, Pat Wyatt and Angêle Vidal-Hall have been independently convinced that BOONE is correct.
I know only slightly more about Christian Boom. "Boom" is a dutch surname (meaning ‘tree’ like the german ‘baum’) and "Allegonda" is a uniquely dutch christian name. At his wedding to Dorothy he is listed as a mariner (i.e. sailor). Information on a family tree chart from Angêle Vidal-Hall has him as a "Holland sea captain". It's quite a step up from sailor to captain. At about this time the Dutch West India shipping company was in operation. The dutch owned and still own the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, including the island of Curaçao where at least three of his children were born.
I can just imagine Dorothy, then a widow, being wooed by a dashing young sailor from a foreign country. A quick survey of the Kingston Parish Register reveals that marriages between widows and mariners were not at all uncommon. About 10% of men getting married were mariners and (this seems impossible but it's true) nearly 50% of women getting married were widows. This, perhaps more than anything else, shows that the death rate from the at least the 1720s to the 1770s was shockingly high.
There is also the possibility that his ship was involved in the slave trade. I think that in 1737 the slave trade was still in its infancy. By about 1795 the number of people of mixed race in Jamaica exceeded the number of whites. By 1815 the number of negro slaves on Jamaica was simply enormous. But more of that later.
Christian Boom died in Omoa in the 14 May 1763 aged 49 years and 11 months and was buried the next day. One web site has this to say about Omoa. "Located on Honduras' northwest coast, this small town is built around the well-preserved remains of one of the largest still-standing colonial period forts in Central America. The fortress was an element in late 18th century Bourbon strategies to protect the extensive Spanish New World empire from pirate attacks and to interdict smuggling by subjects attempting to circumvent restrictive royal trade policies... Beautifully preserved, Omoa is a product of, and monument to, those processes and events occurring during the crucial transition from colony to independence in Central America."
Now is perhaps the best time to introduce some new information from “Vrij van Slavernij” that was not in the first edition of this book. For relevant extracts click here. “Vrij van Slavernij” is a chronicle of the salve trade in the Netherlands Antilles, primarily Curaçao. It is web searchable and accessible through www.archief.nl/vrij-van-slavernij/_engine/startup.asp. It contains six occurrences of the name ‘Boom’ including ‘Barbera Boom’ from 1752, ‘Jacob Boom’ from 1757, ‘Jurriaan Boom’ from 1772, ‘Christiaan Boom Danielsz’ from 1775, ‘Christiaan Boom Dzn’ from 1791, ‘Jan Boom of Bonaire’ from 1854. These may be distant relatives, one of Allegonda’s neices is a Barbara. As ‘Christian’ is an anglicisation of the Dutch ‘Christiaan’, so ‘Dorothy’ may be an anglicisation of the common Dutch ‘Dorothea’. So there is a small chance that Dorothy Harrison is Dutch after all. The given name ‘Willemina’ is very common (see below). The surname Jonas also appears (see below). Neither the Boom nor Jonas families played a large part in the slave trade. The name ‘Allegonda’ does not appear.
Allegonda Boom was the eldest daughter of Dorothy and Christian Boom. Although born in Jamaica, and stated to have been christened, I found no record of her christening in Jamaica. As her next younger sibling, Dorothy Willemina, was born in the Dutch colony of Curaçao, it is likely that Allegonda was christened on Curaçao.
The Family Register gives the spelling of her first name as ALLEGONDA, and as this is her own writing, we must trust it. The Port Royal Parish Register spells her first name as ALLEHONDA at the time of her marriage to John Hall; and the Kingston Register spells her first name as both ALLEGONDE and ALLEGONDA at the birth of her children and ALLIGONDA at her death. The name has also been carried to later generations, most are spelled ALLEGONDA but one (not a direct descendant) appears as both ALEGONDA and ALLEGONDA. One that I've recently seen in the Port Royal Index is spelled ALDEGUNDA. If the web is any guide, it is a dutch Christian name and by far the most common spelling is ALLEGONDA. I have seen the name written in shortened form as ALLE, which is much like the common modern name ALLY.
The children of Christian Boom and Dorothy are:
Allegonda Boom b. 5 Jan 1738 Jamaica, d. 27 Dec 1775, bur. 28 Dec 1775 Kingston
Dorothy Willemina Boom b. 31 Dec 1741 Curaçao, d. 25 Oct 1795, bur. 26 Oct 1795 Kingston
Christian Boom b. 14 Sep 1745 Curaçao, d. 6 Feb 1803, bur. 6 Feb 1803 Kingston
(unnamed) b. 27 Jul 1750 Curaçao, d. 28 Jul 1750 Curaçao.
After Allegonda's siblings were born, the Family Register has the following ominous entry:
"On the 1st June 1756 is Dorothy Boom arrived at Jamaica with her Son and two Daughters".
There is no mention of Dorothy's husband Christian, so this is a formal recognition of the breakup of the marriage, and we can use this as the date of separation. This is the only mention of divorce or separation in the whole of the Family Register. After this I know nothing of Dorothy Harrison / Boom. She disappears without trace from the Family Register. This is strange, either she emigrated and Allegonda lost touch with her or she fell out of grace with Allegonda by either remarrying or being involved in a mixed race liaison.
Because Curaçao is a dutch colony, Allegonda would have grown up speaking Dutch, but the Family Register is written in English so she also learned English, either from her mother or after her return to Jamaica.
The next item of interest is the marriage of Allegonda Boom to John Hall on the 21 Dec 1758. At the marriage, solemnised in Port Royal, Jamaica, Allegonda is described as a spinster and John Hall as a tavern keeper in Kingston. I would dearly love to know more about the tavern, but it probably wouldn't be possible as there are many other tavern owners in Kingston at about that time. Allegonda moved to Kingston and all their children were baptised in Kingston.
I don't know where John Hall was born, but he was born on the 28 Dec 1722 and was therefore 15 years older than Allegonda. I also know that he had been married before. The Family Register is quite complete, no-one's death is listed unless their birth is also listed, with the exception of Mary Hall. Mary who died 20 May 1775 aged 17 years and 9 months and was therefore born in 1757, before the marriage of John and Allegonda. It turns out that Mary is the daughter of John Hall by a previous marriage to Sarah Walter.
John Hall and Sarah had two children baptised and buried in Kingston, Jamaica:
Frances Hall b. 24 Apr 1756 , bap. 3 May 1756, bur.
3 Nov 1757
Mary Hall b. 18 Aug 1757, bap. 8 Sep 1757, d. 20 May
1775, bur. 19 May 1775
I don't for a moment think that Mary was actually buried before she died, in this case I'd trust the burial date rather than the death date.
The plot is muddied by the fact that at least two John Halls were married to women named Sarah in Kingston at the same time, and both Sarahs died within a few months of one another. Here is the sequence of events.
1) 30 Dec 1725 Sarah Nowell (spinster) m. John Hall (merchant)
2) 6 Apr 1755 Sarah Walter (widow) m. John Hall (tavern keeper)
3) Frances Hall b. 24 Apr 1756 , bap. 3 May 1756 parents John & Sarah Hall
4) Mary Hall, b. 18 Aug 1757, bap. 8 Sep 1757 parents John & Sarah Hall
5) bur. 17 Jul 1758 Sarah Hall wife of John Hall
6) bur. 28 Aug 1758 John Hall (mariner)
7) bur. 7 Nov 1758 Sarah Hall wife of John Hall Esq.
8) 21 Dec 1758 Allegonda Boom (spinster) m. John Hall (tavern keeper)
9) bur. 3 Feb 1761 John Hall Esq.
10) bur. 12 Aug 1797 John Hall senior, Esquire.
We know that our John Hall died in 1797 so can guess that his wife Sarah Walter was buried 17 Jul 1758, five months and four days before John Hall remarried.
Allegonda Boom / Hall lived at a time when the death rate was shockingly high. I'm told (by Edward Crawford) that the main causes of death were yellow fever and malaria. The family only made it through this generation because Allegonda had nine children before dying at the tender age of 37. Of these nine, four died in infancy. All baptisms and burials listed below took place in Kingston, Jamaica.
Dorothy Hall
b. 14 Mar 1760, bap. 22 Mar 1760
Frances Hall
b. 8 Feb 1762, bap. 26 Feb 1762, d. 15 Nov 1764, bur. 16 Nov 1764
John Hall b.
24 Jan 1764, bap. 25 Jan 1764, d. 5 Sep 1764, bur. 6 Sep 1764
Frances Hall
b. 30 Oct 1765, bap. 6 Nov 1765, d. 7 Nov 1765, bur. 8 Nov 1765
John Hall b.
22 Dec 1766, bap. 13 Jan 1767
Richard Hall
b. 16 Feb 1768, bap. 27 Feb 1768, d. 30 Sep 1771, bur. 30 Sep 1771
William Hall
b. 21 Jan 1770, bap. 24 Feb 1770
Bryan Hall b.
21 Jul 1771, bap. 7 Sep 1771
Richard Hall
7 Sep 1772, bap. 10 Oct 1772
In the above, I've accepted the Family Register for birth & death dates and the Parish Register for baptism & burial dates. Alternative dates are at most two days different as follows:
Frances Hall bap. 27 Feb 1762
John Hall b. 25 Jan 1764
John Hall b. 24 Dec 1766
Bryan Hall b. 22 Jul 1771
What happened to John Hall after Allegonda died? After all, he died in 1797 and she died in 1775. For me, the mystery deepened when I found the following entry in the Parish Register for Saint Andrew Parish in Jamaica.
"1790 Allegonda - The daughter of John Hall Esqre and Allegonda his wife Born the 25th January & baptised the 26th June"
Huh?! Allegonda Hall / Boom was long dead by then.
Pat Wyatt stumbled on the same problem, but has a different source that I don't have, the will of John Hall. In part, Pat says "Allegonda ... After her death, her share of the estate to go to two nieces named Edwards". Damn, I wish I had that will. You see, the name 'Allegonda Hall Edwards' turns up later, as the second wife of John's son Richard!
Could John Hall senior have married TWO women called Allegonda? YES! Further research dug out the following (paraphrased):
15 Apr 1769 Allegonda Jonas (spinster, Kingston) married Constantius Tweerts (merchant, Kingston) in Kingston.
19 Sep 1789 Allegonda Tweerts (widow, Kingston) married John Hall senior (esquire, Saint Andrew) in Kingston.
25 Jan 1790 Allegonda born to John Hall esquire and Allegonda his wife. Baptised in Saint Andrew 26 Jun 1790.
15 Oct 1790 Dorothy Jonaz married John Edwards in Kingston
18 Feb 1795 A. Hall was godmother to Dorothy Mallard Hall in Saint Andrew.
21 Jan 1812 Alegonda Hall (widow) buried in Kingston.
If Dorothy Jonaz was the sister of Allegonda Jonas then her daughters would be Allegonda’s “nieces named Edwards” and it wouldn’t be too surprising if one of them was christened ‘Allegonda Hall Edwards’ after her aunt.
All told, I've found 9 Allegondas in our family tree. You may think from what I've said above that Allegonda was a common given name on Jamaica. Quite the opposite! I have not found a single instance of the name Allegonda on Jamaica that is not intimately associated with our family. What is amazing is that two of those Allegondas (Allegonda Jonas & Allegonda Hall Edwards) were not born into the family, but married into it.
The 9 Allegondas are as follows:
|
Allegonda Boom |
b. 5 Jan 1738 Christian & Dorothy Boom m. 21 Dec 1758 John Hall |
|
Allegonda Jonas |
m. 15 Apr 1769 Constantius Tweerts m. 19 Sep 1789 John Hall |
|
Allegonda Berry |
b. 26 Oct 1780 Thomas & Dorothy Berry |
|
Allegonda Hall |
b. 25 Jan 1790 John & Allegonda Hall |
|
Allegonda Hall Edwards |
m. 20 Feb 1815 Richard Hall m. 17 Oct 1829 John Herman Hall |
|
Aldegunda Hall |
bap. 20 Sep 1800 William Hall & Mary Silburn |
|
Allegonda Ann Hall |
b. 3 Jan 1806 William & Dorothy Hall |
|
Allegonda Ann Hall |
b. 20 Jun 1807 William & Dorothy Hall m. 29 Jul 1830 George Patterson |
|
Allegonda Hall |
b. abt 1825 Richard & Allegonda Hall |
The above table shows some strange twists. John Herman Hall married his uncle's widow. Aldegunda Hall was illegitimate, and probably of mixed race. Only four of these Allegondas are in the family register. The middle name of Allegonda Edwards may be Hale (the Parish Register is unclear) and her first name also appears as Alegonda.