The Immele and Meisburger families were two of the pioneer families of Boonville. The passport of F. J. Immele and family, issued at Havre, France, in 1851, is still preserved in the family. One son, F. J. Immele, Jr., accompanied the parents. The elder son, Francis Louis Immele, was a cannoneer in the French army in Africa at the time. After six years of service with honors he rejointed the family in this country and located in Boonville. In 1856 the junior Francis Joseph Immele married Catherine Meisburger and in 1859 Louis Immele married Catherine’s sister, Teresa Meisburger. These young women were daughters of (Erasme) Max Meisburger, who with his family of eight children arrived in Boonville from Alsace, France, in 1848. Max Meisburger had served for six years as a soldier in the army of the great Napoleon and was very proud of the medals he had received for bravery. During the progress of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1873) he kept posted through the French papers which he received and when the Prussian victory was announced he, with clenched fists and tear-dimmed eyes, declared: “If our great Napoleon had lived he and I would never have tolerated the Prussians to lord it over our beloved France”, and expressed the hope and belief that his grandchildren would live to see the happy day when Alsace-Lorrraine whould be liberated from the Prussian domination. Duiring the time of America’s participation in the World War which resulted in the return to France of the “lost” provinces nine of his great-grandsons answered the call to the front and when the armistice was declared in the fall of 1918 six more were waiting for the next call, all eager to serve American first and France next. During the progress of the Civil War both F. J. and Louis Immele served faithfully for three years as soldiers in behalf of the cause of the union, and their previous military experience as soldiers of France gave a special value to their services, both being qualified as sharpshooters.
     Mrs. Immele, wife of the senior F. J. Immele was a daughter of Major General Boshea, who offered his life in a ten-years service in the French Army. As the river boat on which she arrived at Boonville neared the landing amid the Boonville hills she exclaimed, “Oh, where are our beautiful church spires of France?” When she realized there were none here she begged to be permittted to return to france, but amid the many, though often trying, novelties of the new situated she presently became reconciled to the pioneer conditions which faced the family and perormed ably her part in helping to bring about stable social congtions. Boonville then consisted of a few log houses used a trading centers and a few dwelling houses of a very humble sort. The house which the Immeles occupied until they could build a new one was located at what is now the corner of High and Sixth streets. Added to Ancestory.com 7/20/2009.