In October of 1852, when William was seven years old, his brother, John, died. John was three years old. In November of the same year, his younger sister, Elizabeth, died at 9 months of age. Then, in December 8, 1852, William's father, Lucas, died as well. We do not know the cause of any of the deaths. Of his entire family, only William, his mother Elizabeth, and his brother Joseph survived.

Only one month after the death of his father, Lucas, William's mother, Elizabeth, remarried to his uncle, (Lucas' brother) Caspar Bohnert. Caspar had also lost his spouse, Francisca Meyer, earlier the same year. Together with his younger brother, Joseph, William moved in with Caspar's family, which included sons (and William's cousins) Ignatz, Charles, Ferdinand, Louis, and daughter, Barbara. 

William's mother, Elizabeth, and her new husband (William's uncle, Caspar) had five additional children, all boys.​​

In the ​​1860 Federal Census for the Cinque Hommes Township of Perry County, Missouri, William (age 13) was shown living in the house with his mother, step-father and nine other children. Both his step-father, Caspar, and his mother, Elizabeth, were noted as coming from Baden. His step-father and older step-brothers were listed as farm laborers. William was listed as having attended school within the year.​

​​​​​​​​​​In the 1870 census, William was listed as living at the home of the Anton Butz farm. However, his name was also listed on the 1870 census as living in the home of his step-father, Caspar Bohnert. He was 22 years of age. The Butz family were also from Renchen and close friends of the Bohnert family. They had no children of their own and, in his Last Will, Anton Butz left everything he owned to his wife and, upon her death, to William, which included a 124.5 acre farm in Uniontown, Missouri. Anton Butz is buried in the cemetery at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Apple Creek, Missouri.

Maria (Mary) Elizabeth Leible was the daughter of Vincent Leible, Jr. and his first wife, Maria Martha Boschert. Elizabeth's father immigrated to America from the small town of Urloffen, Baden-Württemberg, and arrived in the Port of New Orleans on November 31, 1836. On January 14, 1848, when he was 25, Vincent and Maria Martha married in Perry County, Missouri. 

Mary Elizabeth was born on April 2, 1857, in Apple Creek in Perry County, Missouri. On July 26, 1857, she was baptized in St. Joseph Catholic Church in Apple Creek where her parents were members.  

Mary Elizabeth was the fifth of six children born to Vincent and Maria Martha Leible. In addition to her parents and herself, her family consisted of the following:

Mary Elizabeth's mother, Mary Martha Boschert Leible, died on February 21, 1862. On April 25, 1864, her father, Vincent, remarried to Helena Riehl. Together the couple had an additional nine children, all half siblings of Mary Elizabeth.

In the 1860 Federal census, the Vincent Leible family were recorded as living in the Cinque Hommes Township of Perry County, Missouri. They remained there after the death of Elizabeth's mother in 1862.​​​ Living next to the Leibles in 1860 was the Casper Bohnert family. The families were both from Baden and knew each other well. 

The 1870 census listed Elizabeth as living in the house with her parents, Vincent and Helen, her full siblings, William, August, and Henry, and her half siblings, Agnes, Rosa, John and Mary. At this time, the census did not record the Bohnerts living adjacent to the Leibles.

On Monday, January 4, 1875, William married Maria Elizabeth Leible at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Apple Creek, Missouri. Reverend Joseph Pope was the celebrant. The documents were recorded in the parish records (in both Latin and English), as well as in the Perry County records.

Four of Vincent Leible's children married children of Caspar Bohnert. In addition to Elizabeth and William, Elizabeth's half-sister, Rosa, married William's half-brother, Anton. Elizabeth's older sister, Theresa, married Caspar's eldest son, Ignatius (Ignatz), and Maria Helen Leible, Elizabeth's half-sister, married Caspar's son, Andrew. Other, slightly less closely related members of the Leible and Bohnert families intermarried as well. Eventually, a total of eight of the the Leible children married into the Bohnert family.

After their marriage in 1875, Elizabeth and William made their home on the property left to William by Anton Butz. Together, they had a large family of 11 children, all of whom were born in Perry County, Missouri. Three of the children died in infancy.

In the ​1910 Federal Census, William, Elizabeth, and several members of their family were listed as living in Union Township, Perry County, Missouri (on the Butz farm). This was the last census in which Elizabeth was still living. Maria Elizabeth Leible Bohnert died at the age of 55 on July 31, 1912 in her home. She is listed in the St. Joseph's Bruial Records (page 79), St. Joseph Church cemetery, Apple Creek, Perry County, Missouri. There is no marker on her grave.

William's last years were spent in the home of his son, John Vincent Bohnert and his wife, Sarah Helen Bohnert and his grandchildren. Our father, James J. Bohnert, had memories of his grandfather sitting in the chair pictured above. Sarah H. Bohnert, our grandmother and the daughter-in-law of William, reminisced often about William's love of reading.

William died on March 28, 1932 at the home of his daughter, Clara, and her husband, Roman Ponder, near McBride, Missouri. At the time of his death, he was 86 years old. The cause of death was Lobar Pneumonia brought on by Influenza. He was buried on March 30, 1932, in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Apple Creek, Missouri. A physical search for his grave, done in 2016, was unsuccessful.​