Читать книгу Memoirs of Milwaukee County, Volume 2 - Josiah Seymour Currey - Страница 11

Hon. John Colonel Karel, Judge of the second division of the probate court of Milwaukee county, came to this state from Nebraska, having reversed the usual order of immigration westward. He was born in the city of Schuyler, Colfax county, Nebraska, February 28, 1873, his parents being John and Elizabeth Karel, the former born in Briza, Bohemia, in 1851, while the latter is a native of Calumet, Wisconsin, born in 1852. Coming to the new world he settled in Wisconsin and became a prominent factor in democratic circles in this state and was called to fill various city and county offices. In 1884 he was a candidate on the party ticket for the position of insurance commissioner, but met defeat with the others on the ticket. In 1888 he received presidential appointment to the office of consul at Prague, Bohemia, and six years later was appointed by President Cleveland consul general at St. Petersburg. While he was traveling in Europe with his wife in 1883 she passed away and her remains were interred in a cemetery in the city of Prague. The family numbered two sons and a daughter: Albert Karel, who is a banker at Kewanee, Wisconsin; Flora, who is now engaged in teaching; and Judge Karel, of this review.

In his youthful days Judge Karel attended the public schools of Kewanee, Wisconsin, passing through consecutive grades to the high school and later he supplemented his studies in educational institutions of Prague, Bohemia, while eventually he matriculated in the State University at Madison, which conferred upon him the Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Letters degrees, in recognition of work completed in that institution. He entered upon the practice of his profession in Milwaukee and had gained a large and distinctively representative clientage, when on the 1st of June, 1907, he assumed the office of Judge of the second division of the probate court, which had been created by the legislature of that year and to which he was elected on a non-partisan ticket. Previous to taking up the work of the profession he had been a purser on Lake Michigan boats and had also been employed in the bank of Kasper & Karel of Chicago. He had likewise done newspaper work on various publications and all of his previous experiences have been of benefit to him in the discharge of his professional duties.

On the 11th of June, 1901, Judge Karel was married to Miss Josephine A. Henssler, daughter of Louis and Bertha Henssler of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and they have one child, Gladys Josephine, born March 28, 1905. The parents are members of the Roman Catholic church and he belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, to the Bohemian Athletic Club, the Jefferson Club, of which he was president for two terms; the Milwaukee Press Club, the Bohemian American Club, the University Club, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Canoe Club, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Fin de Siècle Club and the Illinois Athletic Club of Chicago. He is also identified with the Bohemian Slavonian Brotherhood and the Equitable Fraternal Union and is now state president of the latter organization. He has ever given unfaltering support to the democratic party since age conferred upon him the right of franchise and was elected on Its ticket from the ninth Milwaukee district to the general assembly, in which he served during the sessions of 1901 and 1903. In the latter year he was made register of probate of Milwaukee county and continued in that office until elected probate judge. He is an expert linguist, having a comprehensive knowledge of the English, German, Bohemian and Polish languages and he has traveled extensively through all the continents of the globe. His lectures relating to his travels have received high commendation from the press and from the general public, and he is also known as a lecturer on legal subjects before the Milwaukee Law School. He has taken the initiative in all movements having for their object the betterment of the Bohemian element in this country and has represented various Bohemian societies, with which he is affiliated, in public movements of varied characters.