Bio: Karl, Joseph (1835 – 19??)

Contact: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Karl, Blume,

----Source: History of Marathon County Wisconsin and Representative Citizens, by Louis Marchetti, 1913.

Karl, Joseph (28 October 1835 – 19??)

JOSEPH KARL who for the past six years has been the caretaker of St. Joseph's school at Marathon City, owner of valuable property, and for the past nine years village assessor, is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of the town of Marathon. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, October 28, 1835, and is a son of Sebastian and Catherine Karl.  

The parents of Mr. Karl were also natives of Bavaria who came to the United States with their five daughters and one son, landing at the port of New York, July 16, 1852. They went to Pittsburgh, Pa., where the father found work for four years and from there came to Wisconsin, in 1858, he being then aged fifty-eight years. He had been a farmer in Germany and when he settled in Marathon village it was in the hope of again having his own land to cultivate and in this he was not entirely disappointed. He secured eighty acres of wild land and immediately began the labor of clearing, making his home in the village which was then only a little shanty settlement on the border of the deep woods. He was a man of judgment and sound principles but always felt too busy to accept any public office. His death occurred when he was aged seventy years and six months, his widow surviving to the age of eighty-four years and five months. They were good Catholics, members of St. Mary's Church and their burial was in this church cemetery.

Joseph Karl's school period was passed in Germany. After he accompanied his parents to Pittsburgh, Pa., he worked at digging ore in the mines and afterward worked in a rolling mill at Pittsburgh. He was twenty-live years old when he came to Marathon City in 1860 and immediately began to help his father in the really laborious work of clearing the farm, his father only succeeding in getting three acres cleared by him. Joseph Karl cleared twenty-five acres and later bought eighty additional acres one-half mile south of Marathon City, in the town of Cassel, which he sold in 1898, moving then to the village. Here he owns a business block and his home.  

Mr. Karl married Miss Tressa Blume, who was born in Prussia-Germany, a daughter of John Blume. Their children who were born in the town of Marathon were: Caroline, Theresia, Blandina and Romonda, and those born in the town of Cassel are Joseph and Mary, while eight children died in infancy. Mr. Karl and family belong to St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mr. Karl has been a lifelong democrat. For fifteen years he was elected assessor of the town of Marathon and at first his district included also the towns of Frankfort, Wein and Cassel, and at that time he lived in section 26 in the town of Marathon.