Grandson of Franz Xavier Boeding (1796 - 1878)
Edward Otto Boeding was born in Neuenkirchen, Kreis Wiedenbrueck, Westphalia, Germany on November 23, 1861. As a teenager, he was apprenticed to the forest service in the Schwarz-Wald. In his teen years, the Kulturkampf raged. This had already caused his older brother, Francis Xavier, to emigrate to Canada in order to continue his studies for the priesthood. All German seminaries had been closed. Another feature of the Kulturkampf was the introduction of conscription. The draft was for two years, effective on the seventeenth birthday. Because of this persecution of the churches by the government, youths, especially Catholics and Lutherans, wanted none of the draft. At the approach of the seventeenth birthday, many of them fled, a large percentage to America. From Westphalia the escape route was over the Dutch border. But Bismarck had this border patrolled by soldiers and bloodhounds. (Later Hitler had it mined). Part of the Dutch border was heavy forest. To escape the bloodhounds, many youths climbed from tree to tree in the 'dead of night' over the border, and thus escaped. This was how Edward escaped.
As the time for Edward's escape approached, one big question in the family was: "Does he go alone, or does someone go with him"? Edward's mother insisted on someone going with him. Her reason: "Er wird den Gauben verlieren". (He will lose his faith). His mother prevailed. Annie, (later Mrs. Anton Wurzer) several years older, preceded Edward into Holland. Edward made good his escape and joined her there. They sailed from Holland on September 8, 1878. In America, they came directly to West Point, Iowa. Edward's grandfather, four uncles and one aunt had emigrated to America about 1854-55 and had settled in the West Point area.
At the time of Edward's escape, his family hesitated to emigrate because Settchen, his sister, was in poor health and could not undertake an ocean voyage. By the time she died in 1882, Edward's mother was ailing and the migration was again postponed. She died April 20, 1884.
After father's death in 1910, occasionally I heard references to a story about him, usually on my visits to St. Lucas, Iowa. I checked this out with aunt Lizzie Boeding (Conrad's daughter), my uncle F.X. and uncle Henry Kuennen. They are my vouchers for this story. Uncle Henry knew the details of the story best. After my father came to America, my uncle F.X. frequently advised him to "settle down and get married". Knowing my uncle F.X., I surmise that gradually this advice became quite urgent. For about six years, my father moved from one job to another, always in a different place. I remember learning that at one time he worked in a brewery in St. Louis for several years. It should not be surprising that eventually he landed a job in a logging camp in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. In the early days, these forests were very dense. Lo area were either morass or swamp, often quite large. Elevated roadways were built into these areas, often only wide enough for the narrow gauge railroads which hauled the logs to the sawmill. My father was a trainman on the log trains. One day my father was stationed near the center of a loaded train moving to the sawmill. Nearing a freshly burnt-out area, he spotted a burning tree, about to crack and fall over the track. He realized the tree could fall on the train and derail all or part of it. Anticipating this, he climbed to the top to be able to jump away from the tumbling logs and cars. All went as feared. He jumped and cleared the logs but he jumped too far and landed in the morass. Slowly he began to sink. He heard the noises made in righting the train and getting it rolling again. Other crew members missed him, searched for him and called his name out loud. He tried to holler back but he was too far away to be heard above the noise. Apparently no one thought to look on the other side of the tracks. So the train proceeded to the sawmill. By this time my father had sunk to his arm-pits. Suddenly he realized that now it was "up to God". So he began to pray. As he continued to sink slowly, he promised Our Blessed Mother that if he "got out of this mess" he would return to Iowa at once and follow the advice of uncle F.X.. Gradually he lost consciousness. When he awakened, he was lying on the embankment. He kept his promise and left for Iowa at once. I have reason to believe all this happened in 1883 and into 1884. In a letter from grandmother Boeding in Neuenkirchen to my father dated October 5, 1883, she expressed her astonishment that he had passed through California on his way to his job (plus some motherly advice about spiritual and temporal dangers). The fact that he had held this job is further verified in a letter from my father too my mother dated June 4, 1886 shortly before their marriage. In this letter he tells her how he had worked over one year in the primeval forests of the Northwest "where one slept with a six-shooter under one's head".
By the fall of 1884, we find him in St. Louis. There he became a naturalized citizen on November 28, 1884. A cousin, Chris Hilke, was the sponsor. Shortly after that he returned to Germany for the purpose of bringing the rest of the family to America. My grandmother Boeding had died so there was no longer any obstacle to the migration. The visa for the migration of the family is dated March 15, 1885. They came first to West Point, Iowa, then too St. Lucas. Uncle F.X. had become pastor of St. Luke's in 1882. In the party with my father were: my grandfather Conrad Boeding, my aunts Betha age 19, Lizzie 14 and Mary 11, uncles Arnold 17 and Herman 13: also Konrad Kriener, a Mr. Schalk and a young lady whose name I have not learned. Konrad Kriener continued to St. Lucas. Mr. Schalk and the young lady remained in West Point.
After the return from Germany, the quest for "settling down and getting married" was undertaken in earnest. During 1885, he became a farmer, a renter, on a farm four miles east of Waucoma and three miles from the farm he eventually purchased, and on which all his children were to be born, except for Cyril the youngest. By January 10, 1886, he was already engaged to my mother. On that date he writes to tell her if his joy that they are engaged. I do not know the details of how this engagement was accomplished. From uncle F.X., I know that he traveled to West Point for that purpose. Uncle F.X. also told me that the original object of my father's affection was an older sister of my mother's. In this he was emphatically rebuffed. Uncle F.X. was an ardent matchmaker. So there arises the suspicion that he had a role in the early part of my father's courtship. On the other hand, knowing my father, I doubt it very much.
Thanks to my mother, and to my sister Theresa, fourteen of my father's courtship letters have survived. From these letters one can glean some facts:
The marriage took place in West Point, Iowa on Wednesday, November 17, 1886. Uncle F.X. was the celebrant. Attendants were Frank Boeding, a cousin of my father's, uncle Herman Lohman, Aunt Mary Lohman and aunt Betha Boeding. On Friday afternoon, they left for St. Lucas and arrived there by Saturday noon.
After the birth of my brother Conrad, my mother visited West Point, no doubt to show the grandparents their first grandchild and the young Lohmans their first nephew. This is learned from a letter from my father to my mother, dated February 13th (with no year given). But, from the letter it can be deduced that the year had to be 1888 or 1889, after the birth of Conrad in September of 1887 and before the birth of my brother August in September of 1889. She visited two weeks and returned to St. Lucas on Friday, February 23rd.
In 1900 my father traveled to Europe to visit Neuenkirchen, his birthplace in Germany, and to go to Rome for the Jubilee Year. There remain seventeen letters written by my father and mother during this trip. Ferdinand Steinlage accompanied my father to Neuenkirchen. There is no mention that he also visited Rome. The departure was before January 7, 1900. On January 7, my mother wrote the first letter. My father's first letter is dated January 10 on board the S.S. Noordland "just leaving New York". On January 20, my father again writes from the Noorland "will land in Antwerp in the morning". They went by rail to Neuenkirchen via Cologne where they stopped one day. The trip to Rome lasted ten days. He arrived there late on February 9th. The return to Neuenkirchen included a stopover at Loretto. For the return to America, they sailed from Antwerp on March 3rd: were in New York on March 13, and back in St. Lucas on Friday March 16.
In 1907, we moved to Kansas. In preparation for the move, my father took several trips, looking for a farm. I have a vague memory that one of these trips was to Minnesota and to the area of Wausau, Wisconsin. He decided against these places because of the cold climate. He also visited Nebraska in the area where the Martin Brockmans' (great-aunt) had settled the previous year. In Seneca, the real estate agent thought he was hard to please. After several days of showing he said: " Tomorrow I'll take you to two places. If they are not good enough, then I have had it". These turned out to be the places my father bought.
In the meanwhile, he had sold out farm in St. Lucas, months before we were ready to move to Kansas. This meant we had to vacate. There was no rental property in St. Lucas at the time. The Karl Stammeiers' turned out to be good neighbors. They had a large house and allowed us to crowd in with them for a few months. During this time my older brothers worked as hired hands: Herman for Wm. Steinlage, Frank for uncle Henry Kuennen and August for the Bathlmes. Before the move there was a farm sale. However, my father retained our better work horses, milk cows, most of the machinery, plus all serviceable furniture and household goods. All these were shipped to Seneca by freight. I do not know how many freight cars were needed. My older brothers accompanied this shipment to care for and feed the livestock. The rest of us traveled to Seneca by train with a stopover at West Point, Iowa.
The move to Kansas took place sometime in November or December of 1907. But the land purchased by my father was not available until March 1, 1908. So, for about three months we lived in a house "in town". One day a young lady walked past the house and saw "many, many" shirts on the wash line. She pitied the poor lady who had to iron that many shirts. Later, she became Mrs. August Boeding, mother of nine sons. Across the street from our home was the J.M. Wempe home. Mrs. Wempe - Mayme to everyone - played the organ. Several times she played "just for me". I never forgot that. From then on she was always special to me. She lived to be over ninety.
The move to Kansas was eminently successful. But my father did not live to enjoy this success very long. He died on the farm east of Seneca on February 13, 1910. His last child, Cyril, was born in August of 1908. The oldest son, Conrad, was married less than a month before his death. All the rest was to follow: one son in the priesthood, three daughters in the convent and forty-four grandchildren. How he would have relished all that.
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