The first member of the Boening family to arrive in America was Heinrich (Henry) Boening (1812-1885) who became a farmer in Astoria. He and his wife Margaret Trost (1812-1890) had eight children:

Anthony 1840, John 1843, George 1846, Barbara 1849, Catherine 1851, Mary 1853, Josephine 1856, and Joseph, 1857.

John was the first to make contact with Fosters Meadow when he married Anna Gunther b. 1847, (possibly at St Boniface). John continued to live with his family in the Town of Newtown until sometime before 1880 when he bought a farm in the Town of Jamaica. John and Anna had six children: Henry 1872, Philip 1876, John 1878 (married Anna Augustin), Joseph 1879, Jacob 1884 and Anna 1889 (married Oscar Strack).

 While his brothers continued to work their father’s farm, Philip established his own dairy farm in the 1890s.

Following is from the Boening Brothers Distributors of LI, NY website.

In 1901, Philip Boening was a dairy farmer in Rosedale, Queens. Each week Philip would make a trip to Brooklyn to visit the many breweries there to buy their spent grain to use as feed for his livestock. His neighbors would often ask him to pick up beer and bring it back for them. It wasn’t long before Philip realized that it was more profitable to pick up and deliver beer than it was to be a farmer. Initially his fledgling business was no more than a one-man horse and wagon operation. From this humble beginning evolved a large, independent family owned beer and wine distribution company.

Philip (1876-1963) married Frances Becker (1878-1946), at St Boniface on 22 Feb 1898. They had three children:

Philip jr.(1899-1953) married Bertha Sammis in Lynbrook,29 Nov 1922. 

Harry (1901-1990)  married Margaret Catherine Schmitt, 3 Feb 1926.

Joseph (1906-1965) married Dorothy Wulforst, 5 Oct 1930 at St Boniface.

In 1930 Philip retired from the business and management was taken over by Harry. He was soon joined by Philip jr. and eventually by Joseph and the Boening Brothers brand was established. I still see their trucks making deliveries to the East End of Long Island today.

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Submitted by Paul Hoffman

July 2021