In 1848, Vogel's cousin, Jacob F. Schoellkopf, asked him to leave Württemberg and join him in the United States.
He lived for a while in Buffalo, New York and eventually Vogel, bankrolled by Schoellkopf, settled in Milwaukee and opened a tannery in collaboration with his other cousin, Guido Pfister, who kept a leather goods store.
Vogel was the firm's expert on bark tanning, serving as vice-president and general manager.
He died on October 23, 1892, aboard a transatlantic steamer during the return leg of a vacation in Europe; he had been ill for some time.
[7] On March 13, 1850, Vogel married Mrs. August Dresshel; they became the parents of seven children, of whom three daughters and two sons were living as of 1922.