Conrad (Konrad) Boeding was born on March 1, 1824 in Nuenkirchen, Germany, to Franz Xavier and Anna Lodenkemper Boeding. Conrad is not a direct relation, but is the half great uncle of Genevieve Boeding, who I wrote in this post.

Konrad Boeding lived in Germany for many years. He married Anna Maria Henrichfreise on October 5, 1852. Their first child was born a little over a year later. They had six children altogether. They were farmers in Germany.

Sometime before 1877, their oldest son, Franz Xavier moved to Montréal, Canada, where he entered the seminary. He left Germany to become a Catholic priest. There were a lot of anti-Catholic sentiments at that time.

Some of the rest of the family stayed in Germany until 1885. Conrad’s wife Anna died on April 20, 1884. Conrad took his remaining children and emigrated to the United States. We find them on this passenger list for the ship Eider. Curiously, we find an Elizabeth and a Lizzie. His daughter Anna was already in the United States.

I found this picture of the ship. It was a steam vessel and was only a year old when this part of the Boeding family came to the United States. The ship landed in New York.

The family traveled to St Lucas, Iowa, where Franz Xavier was priest at the church there. You can read more about that on this website.

I found this family picture online. There are actually 3 Elizabeth’s listed. The information I have has the Elizabeth on the second row far right as his daughter. The Elizabeth in the middle of the back row is noted as Conrad’s daughter in law. I wonder if the Elizabeth in the first row is the “Lizzie” in the ship’s manifest. She may be a niece. The Herman Boeding listed is a nephew. We do not see daughter Mary’s husband, Henry Kuennen in the picture.

The information with the picture identified the people as:

  • Front row: Elizabeth Boeding, Rev. Franz Xavier Boeding, Conrad Boeding, Rev. Arnold Boeding, Herman Boeding, Mary E. Boding Kuennen
  • Second row: Anton Wurzer, Anna Boeding Wurzer, Edward O. Boeding, Elizabeth Lohman Boeding, John Schmitt, Elizabeth Boeding Schmitt.

Conrad Boeding died on November 27, 1893. He is buried at Saint Luke’s Catholic Cemetery in St. Lucas, Iowa. There is a small German-American Museum in St. Lucas, Iowa.