Wilhelm Böing was the father of William Edward Boeing (WEB), Sr., founder of the Boeing Company. Born in the North Rhine-Westphalia area of Germany on May 3, 1846,. Böing was a veteran of the Austro-Prussian War. He immigrated to the United States in 1868 settling in Detroit, Michigan, and started working as a laborer. He soon was hired by Karl Ortmann, a local lumberman and immigrant from Vienna.

Böing married Ortmann's daughter, Marie, on December 25, 1880 and they had two children, William and Caroline. He Anglicized his name to William Boeing. He built his fortune from land, timber, and mineral rights on lands in Minnesota doing very well financially and able to help fund Detroit's first art museum in 1883.

Boeing died from influenza circa 1889-1890 (sources differ) at the age of 42, leaving behind his wife Marie (Ortmann) Boeing and their children.

Sources:

Wikipedia, Ancestry.com and Historylink.org

William E. Boeing was an aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company in 1916.

William Edward Boeing, Sr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 1, 1881 to Marie Ortmann and Wilhelm Böing. After leaving Yale University in 1903, Boeing relocated to Washington state to go into the lumber business. In 1909, he saw a manned flying machine for the first time and a new interest was born. Boeing took flying lessons from Glenn Martin at the Martin Flying School in Los Angeles, California and bought a Martin aircraft. His interest grew and, in partnership with his friend, U.S. Navy Commander George Conrad "G.C." Westervelt, he decided to build an aircraft. This resulted in the B & W biplane seaplane, also known as the Boeing Model 1, which was such a success that Boeing decided to go into the aircraft business.

He purchased Heath Shipyard along the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, later to be known as the "Red Barn" or Boeing Plant 1, and began manufacturing aircraft. During World War I, Boeing Airplane Company built 50 planes for the United States Navy. After World War I, Boeing earned contracts to supply air mail service. Air mail service grew and later added passenger service, which evolved into United Airlines.

In 1929, Boeing helped form United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, which bought several small airlines and merged them into United Air Lines. In 1934, due to the Air Mail Act and post-Depresson legislation that required the dispersion of the corporation, Boeing sold his interests in the Boeing Airplane Company but continued to work on other business ventures, spending most of his time involved in property development and the breeding of thoroughbred race horses.

In 1921, Boeing married Bertha Marie Potter Paschall (1891-1977). A year later, the couple had their son, William E. Boeing, Jr. (1922-2015). William E. Boeing, Sr. remained in the Seattle, Washington area until his death on September 28, 1956.

Sources and Further Reading:

Boeing. "Executive Biography of William E. Boeing." Accessed October 23, 2019. https://www.boeing.com/history/pioneers/william-e-boeing.page

Wikipedia. "William E. Boeing." Accessed October 17, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Boeing