“When Peter Romain De Boom, the god-father of 18 year.Romain Camille De Boom, died in 1857, he left a tract of land of 13 acres on Mission Street opposite old St. Mary’s College (now St. Mary’s Residential Park) to his god-son Romain (my father) in trust for the latter’s unborn children. In Belgium in those days such a bequest was legal, but not in California. The 13 acres are known as the “De Boom Tract, ” wrote Emma. Legal or not, RC DeBoom and his children enjoyed the proceeds of the De Boom Tract for decades. (See SF De Boom Tract page under RC De Boom.)
