Vesel was born in Gorenje (now part of Spodnje Koseze) in the Duchy of Carniola in the Habsburg monarchy (now in Slovenia) and baptized Johannes Vesseu.

[3] He studied law in Graz and Vienna and worked in Trieste for most of his professional life.

The poem where he describes the history of the Slovene Lands since the Roman times is widely regarded as his best work.

[4] Vesel was a grandfather of the Austrian-Italian mountaineer and author Julius Kugy.

Vesel's 1844 ode was long considered the earliest known printed use of the word Slovenija 'Slovenia', at the time referring to the Slovene Lands.