John E. Traeger Sr.

John Edward Traeger later becoming employed in the pork meatpacking business. In 1904, he became vice president of the newly organized Stockmen's Trust and Savings Bank, a job that he would hold for decades. Traeger served as the town collector for Lake Township, Cook County, Illinois, from 1897 through 1899. He was the only Democrat to win election to a countywide office that year.

In April 1907, Traeger was elected Chicago city treasurer. He was the only Democratic nominee to win a citywide office in that year's Chicago municipal elections. Traeger, one of the county's most popular German American figures, was seen as benefiting from the support of the same German American electorate that overwhelmingly supported Republican Fred A. Busse in the coinciding mayoral election. Notably, after the 1907 municipal elections, the offices of mayor, city treasurer, county coroner, and county sheriff all became held by German Americans. Trager's Republican opponent in the 1908 treasurer election had been considered a weak candidate. He instead, successfully, ran for Cook County Sheriff as the Democratic nominee.

Trager left office as Sheriff in 1918, but he would return to that office ten years later. In the interim period, he remained involved in government and politics. Traeger was a delegate to the 1920 Illinois constitutional convention. In the general election, he defeated Republican nominee George H. Weideling. This made Traeger the first person to be elected to two terms as Cook County sheriff.

After taking office, he hired his son John Ernest Traeger as assistant sheriff. He left office in December 1930.

Traeger was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Cook County Jury Commission, taking office on January 25, 1935. He was immediately made chairman of the committee. He would serve four terms, At the end of his tenure, he was the oldest individual serving as a Cook County official. as well two years on the Cook County Board of Assessors, Cook County assistant sheriff (during Traeger's second term as Cook County Sheriff), and a stint as chief deputy clerk of the Cook County Superior Court.

On October 3, 1946, while boarding a Halsted Street streetcar at 55th street, Traeger fell, suffering lacerations to his scalp. He received treatment at Chicago's Evangelical Hospital, and was released from the hospital. However, his condition worsened, and he would die there on October 16, 1946, aged 88.