Franz Xavier Boeding was born on January 12, 1796 in Neunkirchen, Germany. Franz is the great grandfather of one of Walt’s cousins.

Franz is the furthest back I have gone in the Boeding family. According to the information I have, he was married twice while still living in Germany. Franz’s first wife was Anna Maria Lodenkemper. Franz and Anna had three children. Anna died between 1832 and 1836.

On January 12, 1836, Franz married Elizabeth Kleinpauler. Franz and Elizabeth had three more children. Sometime after 1846, the family emigrated. The settled in the West Point area.

Elizabeth died on Aug 27, 1869. Franz Xavier died on September 8, 1878. They are both buried in Calvary Cemetery in West Point, Iowa.

I hope I have the opportunity to do more research on this family.

I talked about Franz’s great granddaughter in this post.