Jakob Frey was born into a large farming family in
Gontenschwil. He studied
philology and
philosophy in
Tübingen,
Munich and
Zürich. From 1851 he lived in
Aarau where he edited
Der Schweizerbote. He was elevated to the
Grand Council of Aargau where he was elected secretary. However this work was unappealing to him and in 1856 he moved to Bern, where he began editing the
Berner Zeitung. In 1861 he moved to
Basel, and in 1865 he went back to Bern before returning to Aarau in 1868. He died in Bern. Frey was not a particularly prolific writer of short stories, but those he wrote are often considered to be among the best of Swiss literature. His son
Adolf Frey (1855–1920) published his remaining manuscripts and wrote a biography. == Works ==