Appendix 1 · Sections 1a to 1d
Records and the “bare” Line of Descent
“So as not to interrupt the flow of reading in the main part too much with the numerous, often long and often barely legible original records,” writes the author, a compromise between brevity and thoroughness has been found here: records with notes, arranged section by section by generation — and, at the end, the line of descent in condensed form.
- Appendix 1a
- The family of Friedrich (I.) — the first generation
- Appendix 1b
- The family of Johann Friedrich (II.) — the second generation, with maps 1 to 4
- Appendix 1c
- The family of Gottfried Friedrich (III.) — the third generation
- Appendix 1d
- The family of Peter (III.) Bommert — the fourth generation and the descendants of the brothers in Poland
The family part
What the four sections contain
The records of this appendix have in the meantime been incorporated into the text and are no longer listed here.
The appendix follows the same order as the text. Where the main line knows only a few records, the collateral lines join it in the appendix — above all the brothers of the respective ancestors and their families.
The immigrant generation
Godparent entries from 1717 to 1724 in Marzy Nowe, Stwolno Polskie, Święte and Czaple; the marriage of the widow Catharina to Adam Kottke in 1737; the baptism of the grandson in 1741 and the widower’s later double designation. In all the records of this period the family bears the name Pomert or Bomert.
The Instmann (farm labourer bound to the estate) and his children
Appearances as witnesses in Deutsch-Konopath, Mieliwko/Schwenten, Rychlowa and the suburb of Nowe; the marriage of his brother Andreas in 1748; the proofs of confession of 1755; maps 1 to 4 of the residences and migrations.
The marriage into the family and the cadastral period
The baptism of his wife Elisabeth Röder in 1748 in Groß Nebrau, the marriage of her parents in 1740 in Graudenz (Grudziądz), the twin birth in 1770 in Tryll, the births from 1772 to 1781, the death record of 1785 and the widow’s three marriages.
The fourth generation and Poland
The military church registers, the marriages of 1808 and 1826 and the appendix to the third, the births between 1811 and 1842 in Groß Schönwalde, Koboszyn, Miaczyno Małe, Rumoka and Wisniewo — together with the descendants of the brothers as far as Żyrardów and Warschau (Warszawa).
What the appendix does and does not do. It does not replace the chapter. It documents it. Anyone who wants to check a statement in the text will find the corresponding record here with its source reference — and, where no record exists, the note that the author is calculating or estimating. For the first generation that is the rule: it is the most thinly documented, and without it the others would not exist.
Appendix 1b
Four maps for a life on the move
The author has recorded the residences of the Instmann Johann Friedrich (II.) in four maps that build on one another — each an update of the previous one. They are the densest account this volume possesses of a life lived in cycles of two to three years.
- Station 1
- Marzy Nowe / Neu-Marsau — the residence with his parents
- Station 2
- Stwolno Niemieckie / Deutsch-Westfalen — the residence of the surviving family after the death of Friedrich (I.) and the remarriage of the stepmother in 1737
- Station 3
- Konopat Niemieckie / Deutsch-Konopath, 1747 to 1748
- Station 4
- Mieliwko / Mielevken, 1749 to 1750
- Station 5
- Święte / Schwenten, 1751 to 1752
- Station 6
- Again Mieliwko, 1753 to 1756
- Station 7
- Święte Małe / Klein Schwenten — the residence of the widow after her remarriage in 1759
Appendix 1d
The fifth generation — and a path leading as far as Warschau
The children of the brothers of our ancestor Peter at first stayed in Prussia. Their sons and daughters later moved eastwards to Russian Poland — and founded lines that bear the name Bomert to this day.
About Gottfried Friedrich (IV.)
Neudorf near Graudenz (Grudziądz)
Five children from the marriage with Anna Kurschinowsky: Peter *1798, Susanna *1803, Anna (Maria) *1805, Heinrich *1809 and Johann Friedrich (V.) *1811. The third daughter is the woman of the wanted notice in the fourth chapter.
About Christian
Tusch and Muntau (Mątowo)
Two daughters: Maria Elisabeth *1796 in Tusch and Catharina *1799, who died in Kunterstein in 1803. In his daughter’s death record his occupation is not named; instead there is a cryptic note “on leave” — the author reads this as “military person on leave”.
About Wilhelm
Klein Tarpen
Five children from the first marriage with Florentine Felge(r): Elisabeth *1814, Wilhelmine *1818, Friedrich Martin *1819, Carl Wilhelm *1822 and Wilhelm Julius *1827, who died in the year of his birth. At the baptism of the eldest daughter in 1814, Peter (III.) Bommert stood as godparent.
Further east the lines continue. Andreas, Peter’s eldest son from his first marriage, became a bricklayer and in 1851 married Wiktoria Krajewska in Jezewo near Sierpc. His son Teofil Bomert, calculated to have been born in 1858 and married in Jezewo in 1879, is regarded as the founder of the Warschau (Warszawa) and Pruszkowo line — with children and grandchildren in Żbików, where members of the family were still living in 1983. Two further lines descend from Peter’s daughter Justina: through her illegitimate son Josef one near Żyrardów, and through his brother Ludwik one in Warschau-Wola (Warszawa-Wola).
The opening up of these branches is not complete. For Teofil’s son Wojciech, for instance, the author relies on oral information from a relative in 1983, and the birth itself is “not yet proven”. The volume marks such passages as open instead of smoothing them over.
On the descendants in central Poland. At the end of this section the author writes: “Gaps and great uncertainties remain concerning the members of our extended family who moved to Zyradow and Warszawa, some of whom experienced cruel fates in the ‘Third Reich’.” What became known is set out in the following section.
1939 to 1945
Two names in the tracing index
When the author entered the surname “Bomert” into the online portal of the foreign tracing service for Displaced Persons of the Second World War in 2023, he found two persons who had evidently been deported to Bavaria in 1943 as forced labourers.
- Stefanie Bomert
- * 10 October 1907 in Warschau (Warszawa). Forced labourer from 1943 in the municipality of Fribertshofen, district of Beilngries. Died on 3 August 1943 in the district hospital of Riedenburg. Possibly the daughter Stefania born in Żyrardów in 1907.
- Stanisław Bomert
- * 1920 in Żyrardów. Resident in Kempten from 29 July 1943, forced labourer with a firm of earthworks and railway construction. Died on 30 June 1944 in the district hospital of Füssen.
On the restraint of this edition. Hardly anything is known about the other family members in Żyrardów and Warschau. Individual persons are listed in the manuscript with name, address and the date of an attempt at contact in 1983. Such details do not stand here. They can be found in the manuscript for research, but they do not belong in a publicly readable edition — and those concerned could not be asked.
On handling the records
Where the records are mistaken
The appendix in particular shows how unreliable register entries are in an individual case — and how useful it is to lay several records for one person side by side. Four examples, all from this volume.
| Person | Record | What the record states | Established finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter (III.) Bommert | Catholic parish register Lipowiec Kościelny, 1834 | 61 years | Born 1778, at that time 56 years old |
| Peter (III.) Bommert | Death record Mława, 1842 | 70 years | Born 1778, at that time 63 years old |
| Peter (III.) Bommert | Marriage record Schakenhof, 1826 | 49 years | The only reliable statement — it confirms 1778 |
| Karolina Bommert | Record of 1849 on the occasion of her marriage | 18 years old, born in Siemiątkowo | According to her birth record 15 years and four months old and born in Rumoka |
| Andreas Bommert | Marriage record Jezewo, 1851 | Mother: Elisabeth | The first name belongs to the stepmother Johanna Sophia Ilsabe; the birth mother was Justina, née Böhmfeld |
Why the ages so often differ. The Polish records were drawn up on the basis of appearance, not according to papers. The parents of the deceased were quite often unable to give any details — in Peter’s death record it states expressly that they were no longer alive and that nothing was known “of name and occupation”. No chronology can be built on age details of this kind.
Why the source references nevertheless carry every line. The records are wrong in detail and irreplaceable as a whole: they supply date, place, names, occupation and witnesses — and with them the social environment. The registers of the Catholic parishes in central Poland have survived, unlike the Prussian military rolls. That is precisely why the fourth generation could be reconstructed.
The condensed line of descent
The main line in a single table
The numbers in brackets are the ones the author works with: the first number designates the generation after the immigration, the following ones the position within the order of siblings.
| No. | Name | Dates | Marriage and place | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | Friedrich (I.) Pomert / Bomert | * about 1685, † about 1737 | 1. Gertrud NN · 2. Anna NN · 3. Catharina NN (2. oo 1737 Adam Kottke) | The immigrant. Four children; no birth record, no death record. |
| 1.1 | Johann Friedrich (II.) Bomert | * about 1710 ± 5, † after Feb. 1756, before 1759 | about/before 1737 with Marianne NN (2. oo 1759 Georg Boldt) | Instmann with six residences. Bearer of the Graudenz (Grudziądz) line. |
| 1.2 | Peter (I.) Bomert | * 1724/1736, † after 1757 | 1. 1753 Eva Cerclau · 2. 1757 Eva Pomplun | Progenitor of the Kulm line. Born after 1724, after the family had left Marzy Nowe. |
| 1.1.2 | Gottfried Friedrich (III.) Bomert | * 19.04.1741, † 20.02.1785 | 1769 Elisabeth Röder / Raeder / Redder, * 1748 | Instmann; in the cadastre of 1772/73 without a cow and without a pig. |
| 1.1.2.4 | Peter (III.) Bommert | * 24.06.1778, † 10.02.1842 | 1. 1808 Justina Böhmfeld · 2. 1826 Louise Ottke · 3. about 1828 Johanna Sophia Ilsabe Greifhahn | Musketeer, distiller, innkeeper, field surgeon. Nine children. |
| 1.1.2.4.8 | Julius / Julian Bomert | * 23.10.1836, † 25.05.1918 | 1863 in Płock Anna Posciadlowska from Parzeń | Miller and mill owner. The next direct ancestor; his path leads into the third volume. |
| 1.1.2.4.8.x | The fifth generation | from 1863 | Jezewo · Żyrardów · Żbików · Warschau-Wola | Branches, several of which bear the name Bomert. Some of them not yet conclusively clarified. |
How the numbers are to be read. They do not state a generation of world history but the order within this family: the first digit is the generation since the immigration. A full stop separates the level. Where the author could not assign a securely established ordinal number to a first name, he lists the person with a question mark — no such passages are contained in this table.
Where the family lived, the village must stand too
Three sources describe the early residences: Maercker’s district chronicle and two Prussian contribution cadastres — for Neu-Marsau, for Deutsch-Westfalen and for Muntau (Mątowo), where the Instmann is recorded without a cow.