John Carel (original) (raw)

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19th century American politician

John C. Karel Sr. (or Carel)[note 1] (March 29, 1851 – August 23, 1914) was an Austrian Empire born American banker, and Democratic politician. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Kewaunee County during the 1879 session. During the presidency of Grover Cleveland, he served as U.S. consul at Prague and Saint Petersburg.

John Karel was born in March 1851, in the village of Nemecká, in what was then Zólyom County in the Austrian Empire—the area is now central Slovakia. His early life was spent in Prague and Plzeň,[1] and he received a collegiate education at the Plzeň Gymnasium. He emigrated to the United States and settled at Kewaunee, Wisconsin, in 1868.[2]

He served as chairman of the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors and was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1878, running on the Democratic Party ticket.[2] He ran for Wisconsin State Senate in 1880, but was defeated by Republican William A. Ellis.[3]

Karel was the Democratic nominee for the statewide elected office Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner in the 1886 general election. He was defeated along with the entire Democratic ticket.[4] A month after his election loss, he accepted appointment as vice-consul to Prague, in Austria-Hungary, under U.S. consul-general Charles Jonas.[5] He remained in the office through the end of U.S. President Grover Cleveland's first term, in 1889, and afterward moved to Chicago, Illinois.[6]

In Chicago he was a partner in a banking business known as Kasper & Karel, which was considered the leading banking institution for Bohemian American merchants in Chicago.[6] When Grover Cleveland returned to office in 1893, Karel was re-appointed to the consulate in Prague, and then, in 1894, he was appointed consul-general at Saint Petersburg, which was then the capital of the Russian Empire.[7]

After returning from his diplomatic missions, he resumed his interest in banking and was one of the founders of the American State Bank in Chicago, where he served as president until his retirement.[8]

He retired due to poor health about 1912. His health continued to decline and he went to live with his daughter, Flora, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He died there on August 23, 1914.[1][8]

Personal life and family

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John Karel married Elizabeth Metzner in 1871. They had at least three children before her death in 1883. Their eldest son, John C. Karel, Jr., was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, a county judge in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and the Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin in 1912 and 1914.[1]

Wisconsin Assembly (1878)

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Wisconsin Senate (1880)

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Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner (1886)

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1. ^ The 1879 and 1881 Wisconsin Blue Books spell his last name "Carel", but all later coverage, including his gravestone and his son's gubernatorial campaign, spell it "Karel".

2. ^ a b c "Leading Bohemian, J. C. Karel, Sr., Dies". Green Bay Press-Gazette. August 24, 1914. p. 3. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

3. ^ a b c Warner, Hans B., ed. (1879). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 496. Retrieved February 23, 2022.

4. ^ a b Heg, J. E., ed. (1881). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 394. Retrieved February 23, 2022.

5. ^ a b Timme, Ernst G., ed. (1887). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 484. Retrieved February 23, 2022.

6. ^ "Hon. Charles Jonas ..." The Wisconsin State Register. December 4, 1886. p. 2. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

7. ^ a b "Office for John Karel of Chicago". Chicago Tribune. September 22, 1893. p. 11. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

8. ^ "Gets His Old Place". The Weekly Wisconsin. November 17, 1894. p. 5. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

9. ^ a b "John Karel, Banker, Dies". Chicago Tribune. August 24, 1914. p. 7. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

• John Karel at Find a Grave