Karl J. Cobelli
Karl J. Cobelli was the son of Alessandro Amadeo Cobelli from Castiglione in Lombardi, a member of Napoleon's army left behind in Germany, who settled in Coburg and married there. Mr. Cobelli was born on 16 September 1816 in Coburg. Shortly after his confirmation, the young man attracted the attention of Professor Dr. J. K. Frammann, the Germanic researcher and later founder of the Germanic Museum. He undertook to tutor the young man in English and French, in which he made surprising progress. Duke Ernst I promised to support the young man, but the Duke died suddenly and Duke Ernst II took his place. Through the prince's favor, Cobelli was the travel companion of Prince Salek ben Jachia of Java, with whom he traveled through France, Belgium and Holland. After he returned he had a similar position in the entourage of Queen Victoria of England, who paid a visit at this time to the Duke of Coburg.
In 1847 he married his wife, who is still living, born a Reichert, and in the following year he threw himself into the storm of the revolution, which nearly destroyed him. Because his occupation as a teacher of languages depended on the upper classes and because prison threatened him as a former member of the civic guard, he put his business aside and immigrated with his wife and two children to America, settling first of all in New York. In 1855 he moved to Bellevue, Ohio, where he ran an inn. Later he taught German for several years at the public schools, then was bookkeeper in a business in Elmore as well as town clerk for a time in Bellevue. He came to Cleveland in 1864. A year later he became a teacher at the Free German School on Mechanic Street, where he put all his efforts for five years until the introduction of German in the public schools led to that school's closing. He was one of the founders of the Social Turner Society and one of its most active members, and he belongs to that small enterprising group that took pick, shovel and wheel barrow in hand to dig the foundations of the present hall. He operated in the society as guardian of records and second speaker, and for years he was cashier of the society and librarian of the Sunday school. He operated as door committee at all festivities and kept strict order. He also helped found the West Side Construction Society, and he functioned as its secretary until its dissolution. Mayor Pelton named him as a public health officer and later as a notary public, which he pursued until his death, after a brief illness, 16 March 1893.
He left a widow and six children: Mrs. Dr. Karl Zapp, Mrs. Wm. Grothe, Mrs. Hulda Stapf, Mrs. Carrie Brinker, all in Cleveland; Mrs. Dr. F. Pfister in Milwaukee; and Mr. Carl Alexander Cobelli, gymnastic instructor for the Hyde Park High School in Chicago.
From Cleveland and Its Germans 1897-98