[2] Zabel was born March 19, 1837, in Magdeburg, Saxony, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
He described himself as "having received a collegiate education", became a merchant and manufacturer, and retired from active business before ever holding public office.
He was assigned to the standing committee on the assessment and collection of taxes.
Zabel told a Milwaukee Sentinel reporter that he was not at all sanguine about the bill's passage, "in view of the fact that all, or nearly all, of the members of the Legislature have their complimentary railroad passes in their pockets" and thus felt obligated to the railroad corporations.
[4] He was not a candidate for re-election for 1883, and was succeeded by Democrat Frederick Scheiber.