CAROLINE (MADER) BOMA
ca. 1847-1931

Caroline left Germany for America when she was a little girl about 6 years old, having been born in February ca. 1847. (1) In 1872 she married Jacob Boma, a boy from the neighboring farm across the road. Carolyn was only five feet tall while her husband Jacob was six feet and four inches.

All the children of Caroline and Jacob were born at home on the Boma farm. One could say they had two families: The first family was Frank, born in 1873, John 1874, Joseph 1876, Edward 1878, and Mary 1880. Of the five, four died while still young children and only Frank, the eldest, lived to adulthood. Edward four, and Mary two, died of diphtheria in January of 1882, about one day apart and John eight, died less than one month later. Joseph died an infant two months old in 1876. The second family was John born in 1882, Julia 1884, and Mary 1885. This left nine years difference between Frank and the “second family.” John too was to die as a young man of 26 in a hunting accident.

Jacob built the beautiful big brick house on Boma Road. The walls were 18 inches or more thick, lined with plaster inside. At first it was a square, one-story house, then the roof was raised and an upstairs was added. The last addition was two rooms built on the east side of the house in 1884, which included a summer kitchen. With the summer kitchen the house had two big kitchens and eleven rooms all together; seven rooms downstairs and four rooms upstairs. The most unusual feature was an inside rounding wall which everyone commented on. The enclosed stairway off the dining room curved around this wall in a ‘S’ shape.

“Every Sunday all the family came out to Caroline’s. She was known for her fried potatoes.”
–William Schnell

“Grandma Caroline cooked potatoes a day ahead with the jackets on and fried them with lard in a heavy pan on the wood stove.”
“On Sundays we used to have some meals there cooked on the wood stove. Bash Boma, the Schnells, Ed, Billy, Helen, Florence and Marie, Gladys and me.”
“The old folks ate first in the dining room while we kids sat in the kitchen waiting. Between the two rooms was a door with a glass window. This one Sunday, Ed Boma would go look through the window and say, ‘They’re still eating.’ A little while later he would look again and say, ‘They’re still eating.’ After a little while he looked again and said, ‘ They’re still eating as steady as before.'”
“Ed Schnell would go to Grandma’s and the first place we’d go was the pantry, help ourselves to ham and apple kuchen.”
–Andy North

Frank Mader Sr.’s grandchildren remember going out to Boma’s when they were children for family occasions. They went for rides in the Boma’s horse and buggy that had a top with tassels on it.

Caroline was a very quiet woman who spoke very little English. Widowed only two months, Caroline passed away on January 6, 1931 at her home on Boma Road. She was survived by three children; Frank Boma, Julia Schnell, and Mary North; one brother, Dominick Mader and seven grandchildren. Caroline was laid to rest beside her husband Jacob in an unmarked grave in the Boma family plot. Near the fence on the hill of the old cemetery stands a tall Boma monument which reads; “Kinder Von (Children of) J. and K. Boma” with the names of the four young children beneath.

An ornate gold crucifix under a glass dome that came with the family from Germany and belonged to Caroline, is now a treasured heirloom.
___________