Charles Jonas (politician)

Charles Jonas

Charles Jonas , born as Karel Jonáš (born October 30, 1840 in Malešov , Bohemia , †  January 15, 1896 in Krefeld , German Empire ) was a Bohemian- American politician . Between 1891 and 1894 he was lieutenant governor of the state of Wisconsin .

Career

Charles Jonas was born as Karel Jonáš on October 30, 1840 in Bohemia, which was then part of the Austrian Empire . He studied at the Polytechnic Institute in Prague and at the University of Prague . He was a Czech nationalist and fled via Bremen to London in 1860 , where he worked as a journalist. In 1863 he emigrated to the United States, where he settled in the city of Racine , Wisconsin. There he published a Czech newspaper. He also published other writings in his mother tongue. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 he was a newspaper reporter in the two warring countries. Politically, he joined the Democratic Party , even if he temporarily supported the Greenback Party for a short time . In 1877 he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly , where he served on the judiciary and education committees. Between 1882 and 1886 he sat in the State Senate , where he was also a member of the Education Committee. Between 1886 and 1889 he served as the American consul in Prague.

In 1890, Jonas was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin alongside George W. Peck . He held this office after a re-election between 1891 and 1894. He was Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Senate. His term of office would actually have run until 1895. However, he resigned prematurely from this post after he was appointed US consul in Saint Petersburg . The position of vice governor remained vacant until Emil Baensch, who was regularly elected in 1894, took office . In 1896 Charles Jonas was transferred from Russia to Krefeld, where he was also the American consul. He died there on January 15, 1896. His cause of death was initially given as heart failure. Recent research suggests a suicide by shooting. He was buried in Prague.

Web links

• Charles Jonas at The Political Graveyard
• Short biography at the Library of Congress (under the year 1863)