Around Thanksgiving weekend 1983, I found some of those fill-in-the-blank "Family History" books at a WaldenBook store, and thought they would make nice Christmas gifts for my three young sons. I knew my grandparents names, and roughly where each was born, and felt sure that I could collect the information on the "other" 5-generations of blank-spaces in the next 30 days. Nearly 23 years later, I've traced back 7-generations on some of my children's ancestors; back 2-generations on others; learned more about English and American Colonial History than I ever did in college; and found a "hobby" that my father and I could share during the later years of his life. I've also learned that there are many others making this same journey -- some ahead of me, others just beginning -- and that the "research" never ends ! (** the photo is my great-grandfather, his wife and children, in March 1893)

Be clear that THIS "BOONE" family does NOT appear to be connected, at least in America, with the family of Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer. MY ancestors appear to have been in eastern North Carolina by 1723, perhaps as early as 1667, and appear more likely connected to BOONE immigrants that were in the Virginia, Carolina or Massachusetts colonies, prior to 1700. The "Christian names" of generation-after-generation of my ancestors -- Thomas, Joseph, John, James and William -- follow more closely the names of those found in these other colonies, and the patent rights for lands claimed would have more likely come from Carolina grants between 1663 and 1710 or Virginia grants prior to 1728, when the Virginia-Carolina border was finally settled by survey. (** Yes, my great-grandfather and his wife, Rebecca, about 1930)

Thomas Boon, the focus of this Genealogy site, is believed to have been born about 1730 in southeastern Virginia or northeastern North Carolina, and to have died in Northampton County, North Carolina in the winter or early spring of 1800. He was a farmer, owning a number of large properties in the rich farmland between the Meherrin and Roanoke rivers. He had ten children, and left the bulk of his holdings to these children, or to their widows and children. Seven generations have farmed these land, with several parcels in Northampton County still in the hands of direct descendants. His descendants in this site are designated using a modified "Henry System" - a unique number that describes each specific position within the larger "family". This system evolved ONLY after much of the research had been completed, and the general relationships of the many individuals named BOON in Northampton County history, had been determined. It is based on the KNOWN and DOCUMENTED relationships. There is conclusive data on the lineage and birth order of SEVEN generations of BOONE'S in America, and indirect or suggestive data to believe that at least FOUR additional generations may be structured, with further research.

With ELEVEN generations as the base value for the numbering system, I set up the following structure: (1) Each POSITION represents a generation . The VALUE of each position represents the birth order within that generation. (2) Birth order is determined by: (1) contemporary documents such as family Bibles or church records; (2) census data dates; or (3) order of mention in wills and administrations. (3) The numbering system was based at the oldest generation where reliable birth orders are available, and will be extended to earlier generations only when positive proof is developed. With these concepts in mind, the numerical structure consists of: Groups of digits separated by hyphens, as in 1234-567-89AB. ZERO is used only to denote un-used generation positions. As early families often had more than 9 children, the letters A through F are used to indicate birth orders for the 10th through the 15th child. Other letters, K thru Z, are used ocassionally in this list to indicate a known relationship, when the exact order of the individuals is NOT known. As more information is collected, these letters will be replaced with the "1 thru F" system. Earliest positive ancestor: THOMAS BOON (but birth order unknown in HIS generation). The earliest son JESSE BOON,SR., would formally be numbered as 700-0000, but trailing zeros are also deleted for this informal format. Reliable data is only available to the seventh generation, so our numbers presently assume zeros for the first four positions. These numbers would appear as 0000-776-1711 for M. BOONE, but the leading zeros have been deleted to produce 776-1711. The path of descendence from THOMAS would then be: his 7th child, 7. JESSE BOON, SENIOR his 7th child, 77. JESSE BOON, JUNIOR his 6th child, 776. JAMES WILLIAM BOONE his 1st child, 776-1. J. P. BOONE his 7th child, 776-17. R. BOONE his 1st child, 776-171. R. BOONE his 1st child, 776-1711. M. BOONE

You're now ready to browse through the generations of Thomas Boon and his Descendants:

This material is the result of personal research and the private contribution of information by others and is presented for the personal, non-commercial use of individual family genealogists. It may not be duplicated, re-published or incorporated in to any for-profit database or collection, electronic or mechanical, without expressed written permission of this author. You can contribute information electronically by sending email to Boone Genealogy, or Bob Boone or by sending non-returnable printed copies (NOT original documents ! ) to: BOB BOONE GENEALOGY P.O.Box 7452 Portsmouth, Va. 23707 ORIGINS SITE - HOME ! | ORIGINS Site Index | Boone Branches | Other Allied Families | References THOMAS BOONE - HOME ! | Thomas Boone Groups | Data / Documents | Regional Histories | Maps / Drawings Copyright - © 1997-2003, Bob Boone / www.boonefamily.org | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Last Updated: 07/03/2003