Charles Jonas (Wisconsin politician)

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For the congressman from North Carolina, see Charles Jonas (disambiguation).
Charles Jonas
16th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
In office
January 5, 1891 – April 4, 1894
GovernorGeorge Wilbur Peck
Preceded byGeorge Washington Ryland
Succeeded byEmil Baensch
Member of the Wisconsin Senate
from the 3rd district
In office
January 1, 1883 – November 17, 1886
Preceded byAlbert L. Phillips
Succeeded byHenry Allen Cooper
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
from the Racine 1st district
In office
January 7, 1878 – January 6, 1879
Preceded byNorton J. Field
Succeeded byNorton J. Field
Personal details
Born
Karel Jonáš

(1840-10-24)24 October 1840
Malešov, Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died15 January 1896(1896-01-15) (aged 55)
Krefeld, German Empire
Resting placeOlšany Cemetery, Prague, Czech Republic
NationalityAustrian, American
Political party
SpouseChristine Korizek (died 1923)
Children
  • Caroline (Salak)
  • (b. 1866; died 1942)
  • Vlasta Jennie (Kubin)
  • (b. 1869; died 1958)
  • Charles Jonas
  • (b. 1874; died 1945)
  • George Washington Jonas
  • (b. 1876; died 1945)
EducationBohemian School of Science and Polytechnic Institute

Charles Jonas (born Karel Jonáš, October 24, 1840 – January 15, 1896) was a Czech American immigrant, journalist, linguist, and political activist. He was the 16th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and served in the Wisconsin Legislature, representing Racine County. Later in life, he was an American consul general to Austria-Hungary, and the Russian and German empires.[1][2]

Karel Jonas House in Racine, Wisconsin
Karel Jonas statue, Racine, Wisconsin, erected 1912

His former home in Racine, Wisconsin, the Karel Jonas House is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is located at 1337 North Erie Street.

Background[edit]

Karel Jonáš was born on 24 October 1840 in Malešov house 32 to Ignác Jonáš and Terezie Rubínová.[2] He studied at what was then the Bohemian School of Science and Polytechnic Institute in Prague, as well as attending lectures at Charles University in Prague. A strong Czech nationalist and friend of Vojtěch Náprstek, he fled Bohemia in 1860 after clashes with the authorities, moving via Bremen to London, where he continued to work as a journalist. In March 1863 he emigrated to Racine, Wisconsin, just south of Milwaukee (where Náprstek had been the first Czech to publish a periodical in the United States); there he edited and published the Czech language newspaper Slavie.

Elective office and consular service[edit]

Jonas was skeptical of Abraham Lincoln and the policies of the Republican Party (which he saw as too centralist), and he gradually came to be affiliated with the Democrats. He was appointed to the Board of Managers of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys (a reform school) for 1874–1877, serving only through 1875.[3]

He was elected an alderman for the City of Racine, serving from 1876 to 1883, and would serve as president of the Common Council of Racine for 1878–79.

He was elected as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1877 to represent the 1st Racine County district (the City of Racine) (incumbent Republican Norton J. Field was not a candidate for re-election), with 1229 votes to 760 for Republican Edward Gillen; he was assigned to the standing committees on the judiciary and on education.[4] He was not a candidate for re-election in 1878, choosing instead to run on the Greenback Party ticket for the Wisconsin Senate's Third District (Racine County), losing to Republican William Everett Chipman by 3206 to 2177 (there was no Democratic candidate in the race, and some candidates that year ran as Democrats and Greenbackers simultaneously). He was succeeded in the Assembly by Field.[5]

He ran again for the Senate in 1882 as a Democrat (to succeed Republican Albert L. Phillips, who was not a candidate for re-election), winning this time with 3213 votes to 2494 for Republican William T. Lewis; and was assigned to the committees on education and on enrolled bills.[6] He did not run for re-election in 1886, and was succeeded by Republican Henry Allen Cooper.

On November 17, 1886, Jonas was appointed U. S. Consul at Prague by President Grover Cleveland, which position he held until July 16, 1889.

In 1890 he was elected 16th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin with a plurality of 34,974 in a four-way race, well ahead of his running mate, Milwaukee mayor George Wilbur Peck.[7] He would serve in that office from 1891 until 1894, when he resigned to become the U.S. consul in St. Petersburg, Russia; in 1896, he was transferred to Crefeld, Germany, where he died that same year.

Although in 1919 the Department of State informed author Thomas Čapek that Jonas died of heart failure, recent scholarship has determined that Jonas shot himself. After his death, Jonas was buried in Prague's Olšany Cemetery.[8]

Sources[edit]

  • "Wisconsin Constitutional Officers; Lieutenant Governors" (PDF). State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2005–2006. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. July 2005. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 25, 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  • "Charles Jonas". Office of the Lieutenant Governor. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2007.

Electoral history[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly (1877)[edit]

Wisconsin Assembly, Racine 1st District Election, 1877[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 6, 1877
Democratic Charles Jonas 1,229 61.79%
Republican Edward Gillen 760 38.21%
Plurality 469 23.58%
Total votes 1,989 100.0%
Democratic gain from Republican

Wisconsin Senate (1878)[edit]

Wisconsin Senate, 3rd District Election, 1878[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 5, 1878
Republican William Everett Chipman 3,206 59.56% +4.30%
Greenback Charles Jonas 2,177 40.44%
Plurality 1,029 19.12% +8.61%
Total votes 5,383 100.0% -16.34%
Republican hold

Wisconsin Senate (1882)[edit]

Wisconsin Senate, 3rd District Election, 1882[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 7, 1882
Democratic Charles Jonas 3,213 56.30% +12.81%
Republican William T. Lewis 2,494 43.70% -11.98%
Plurality 719 12.60% +0.40%
Total votes 5,707 100.0% -17.13%
Democratic gain from Republican

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor (1890, 1892)[edit]

Wisconsin Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 1890[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 4, 1890
Democratic Charles Jonas 159,710 52.40% +8.75%
Republican Joseph B. Treat 124,746 40.92% -8.85%
Prohibition William R. Nethercut 13,361 4.38% +0.28%
Labor Nelson E. Allen 7,000 2.30% -0.18%
Plurality 34,964 11.47% +5.34%
Total votes 304,817 100.0% -14.03%
Democratic gain from Republican
Wisconsin Lieutenant Gubernatorial Election, 1892[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
General Election, November 8, 1892
Democratic Charles Jonas (incumbent) 176,860 47.80% -4.59%
Republican John C. Koch 170,097 45.98% +5.05%
Prohibition Gilbert Shepard 13,122 3.55% -0.84%
Populist Martin Pattison 9,885 2.67%
Plurality 6,763 1.83% -9.64%
Total votes 369,964 100.0% +21.37%
Democratic hold

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cannon, A. Peter, ed. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature: 1848 – 1999. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Informational Bulletin 99-1, September 1999; pp. 9, 68 Archived December 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "Státní oblastní archiv v Praze". ebadatelna.soapraha.cz. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  3. ^ O'Neill, Edward, et al. Document 13: "Fifteenth Annual Report of the Managers of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys for the Fiscal Year Ending Sept. 30, 1874", p. 2; in Governor's Message and Accompanying Documents Delivered to the Legislature in Joint Convention, Thursday, January 14, 1875 (Volume 2) Madison: E. B. Bolens, 1875 (Covers 1873/1874)
  4. ^ a b Bashford, R. M., ed. (1878). "Official Directory" (PDF). The Legislative Manual of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 479, 495. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Warner, Hans B., ed. (1879). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Bue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 478, 502. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Heg, J. E., ed. (1883). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 474. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Cunningham, Thomas J., ed. (1893). "Biographical Sketches" (PDF). The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. p. 623. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
  8. ^ Chrislock, Carl W. Charles Jonas (1840–1896): Czech National Liberal, Wisconsin Bourbon Democrat. Balch Institute Press, 1993.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Andrew Kull
 Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
1890, 1892 		Succeeded by
A. J. Schmitz
Wisconsin State Assembly
Preceded by Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the Racine 1st district
January 7, 1878 – January 6, 1879 		Succeeded by
Norton J. Field
Wisconsin Senate
Preceded by Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 3rd district
January 1, 1883 – January 3, 1887 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin
January 5, 1891 – April 4, 1894 		Succeeded by
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