Franz (Francis) Xaver Wochner was born in Dotternhausen, Germany. In January of 1840 his family emigrated to the United States through the port of New Orleans, Louisiana. They made their way up the river to St. Louis, then, Springfield Illinois. In 1861 he and his brother-in-law Anton Meyer started the Gambrinus Brewery in that town. Wochner died on February 19, 1899. The brewery continued on as the Meyer Brewery, with Anton's sons taking sole management.

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