Johann/John Michael Buchinger was the son of Johann Jacob Buchinger (1810-1859) and Eva Silberhorn (1814-1887) of Roßtal, a small farming community in Bavaria. He was baptized in Roßtal's Laurentiuskirche on August 17, 1834. His mother was the single daughter of a local shepherd. Under Bavarian law his parents were considered too poor to marry and did not do so until nearly three years after the boy's birth. Father Johann Jacob Buchinger worked a small farm in Roßtal. The family were pious Lutherans who suffered discrimination at the hands of the Catholic Bavarian government. In 1852 Buchinger sold his property and took his wife Eva and their son Johann Michael to Hamburg where they boarded a ship bound for North America. They made their way to the wilds of Michigan, joining a large migration of German Lutherans who sought a new life as farmers and evangelists to the native Americans. The family arrived in the farming outpost of Frankenhilf (later renamed Richville).

In 1859 Michael married Margaretha Barbara Bauer (1839-1906), daughter of another Roßtal family recently settled in nearby Frankenlust Township. The Buchinger family prospered, eventually owning over 500 acres of land. In July 1863 during the Civil War, Buchinger dutifully registered for the draft, but received an exemption due to weak eyesight. He eventually became blind.

The Buchingers raised eleven children, ten surviving to adulthood: George (b. 1858), Charles (b. 1860), Eva Barbara (b. 1861), Margaretha Katharina Luisa (b. 1863), Mary Barbara (b. 1865), George Conrad (b. 1867), John George Conrad (b. 1868), John Michael (b. 1874), Friedericka Wilhelmina (b. 1876), William John (b. 1878), and Kunigunda Emilie (b. 1880).
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Obituary
John Buchinger died at the home of his son William in Richville, Monday night at 12 o'clock of cerebral hemorrhage. He was a well known and highly respected farmer and had been a resident of Richville for 44 years. He was born in Bavaria, Germany Aug. 17, 1834. His wife died May 29, 1906. He was a member of St. Michael's Lutheran church. He leaves five daughters and five sons: Mrs. William Reichenback, Bay City; Mrs. George Werdick, Minneapolis, Minn.; Mrs. George Rogner, Mrs. Otto Buetow, and Mrs. C. Miller, all of Richville; George, John G., Mike, and William, all of Richville; 35 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. The funeral will take place Friday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock from the home, and at 2 from the Lutheran church. Rev. Beckmeier of Richville will officiate and the burial will be in Richville Lutheran cemetery.
["Saginaw Daily News" (Saginaw, MI), 25 March 1914.]