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Samuel Frey

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Swiss politician (state legislator), major company founder (Elco AG)
Samuel Frey
Frey, c. 1910
Member of the Grand Council of Aargau
In office
10 April 1901 – 1 January 1921
ConstituencyKulm District
Personal details
BornSamuel Jacob Frey
(1850-09-07)7 September 1850
Gontenschwil, Switzerland
Died26 February 1934(1934-02-26) (aged 83)
Gontenschwil, Switzerland
Political partyFree Radical Liberals
Spouse Rosette Frey ​ ​(m. 1879; died 1924)​
Children4
Parent(s)Hans Jacob Frey
Elisabeth Haller
EducationIndustrial School Aarau
Occupation
  • Industrialist
  • philanthropist
  • politician
Signature

Samuel Jacob Frey (German pronunciation: [zaˈmu̯ɛl fʁaɪ̯]; 7 September 1850 – 26 February 1934) was a Swiss industrialist, financier and politician. He is best known for founding the Freya Paper Company, today known as Elco AG, in 1884. Frey served as a member of the Grand Council of Aargau from 1901 to 1921 for the Free Radical Liberals.

Early life and education

Samuel Jacob Frey was born 7 September 1850 in Gontenschwil, Switzerland, the eldest of eleven children to Hans Jacob Frey and Elisabeth Frey (née Haller) into a Protestant family. His parents operated a weaving mill and a modest farm on Obere Egg, a small hamlet near the main village. His paternal grandfather, Caspar Frey (1792-1859), had only two sons who reached adulthood. The younger son emigrated with his family to Steinauer, Nebraska, where they did a lot of pioneering work in Pawnee County. From 1866 to 1868 he completed an apprenticeship at Locher & Cie in Aarau, a major construction company which had been under the management of Olivier Zschokke since 1859.

Career

See also: Elco AG

Early professional life

After Frey completed his commercial apprenticeship he initially worked as a bookkeeper for the same employer, until 1875. In 1876, he started to work for the Aargau legislature as a warden at the Cantonal Penitentiary in Lenzburg, where he was first introduced to the manufacturing of paper bags.

Freya Manufacturing Company

In 1883, at 32 years old, Frey decided to start his own paper business and he was able to afford the construction of a simple manufacturing building. In 1884, production started with several dozen women, who glued paper bags for local grocery stores as well as produced packaging for the tobacco industry which was prevalent in the Wynental region at the end of the 19th century. The company grew and the success turned Frey into one of the wealthiest citizens in the Kulm District. His youngest brother, Heinrich Frey-Zschokke, completed a commercial apprenticeship at his company. In 1895, he would become a partner in his own paper manufacturing company, Haeusler Frey & Co AG.

Frey, Wiederkehr & Co AG

In the later years of the 1880s he got introduced to his neighbor Hermann Wiederkehr-Schmid. They became partners for the further development of the company which promised a lot of growth. On 27 August 1892 Frey partnered with Hermann Wiederkehr-Schmid and the new general partnership Frey & Wiederkehr was founded. Following rapid growth the company moved to Zürich in 1904. In 1909, the company was converted from a general partnership to a limited partnership and renamed Frey, Wiederkehr & Co. On 6 July 1917 the company was converted into a stock corporation.

Board memberships, other activities

Frey retired from business life in 1915 but remained a silent partner until his death. He was a member of the board of directors of the Bank in Menziken (1892–1920), president (1904–34), Wynental and Suhrental Railway (1920–1934), and also on the board of trustees of the Oberwynen- und Seetal Health Association (1927–1934), today's Asana Hospital Menziken. Frey also supported the Historical Society of Gontenschwil and represented the village at events throughout Switzerland.

Politics

Letter from Frey accepting his position on the Grand Council (1901)

In 1901, Frey was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau, serving until 1919. He presided several commissions and was an active member of the cantonal legislature.

Private life

Frey married Rosette Frey, a daughter of Wilhelm Frey and Anna Maria Merz, innkeepers near Gontenschwil, on 25 March 1879. The couple had four children;

  • Victor Samuel Frey (1879-1953), married to Emma Kieser (1885-1936), secondly to Elise Hulftegger (1880-1959), no children. He was involved in the management of Frey & Wiederkehr until 1932 and remained a silent partner until his death.
  • Oswald Frey (1882-1886), died in childbed.
  • Laura Valerie Frey, colloquially Valerie (1888-1974), married Guido Ernst Gyssler (1881-1950), an architect and construction company owner (later part of Implenia) of Aarau; two children.
  • Johanna Helene Frey (1902-1988), colloquially Helene, married Max Hermann Vogt (1895-1952), an engineer and industrialist (later part of Notz Metal); two children.

Initially, the Frey family lived in a house on Obere Egg, before commissioning Villa zur Freya around 1890 (completed in 1893) on the premises of the paper mill. The house was one of the most modern at the time featuring bathrooms with running water, electricity and an English architecture-inspired garden with a swimming pool.

Death

Frey died from natural causes on 26 February 1934 at Villa zur Freya. He was buried in the Old Cemetery in Gontenschwil.

Literature

References

  1. "Neue Zürcher Nachrichten". Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  2. "Records of Grand Council Samuel Frey, State Archives of Aargau (Sig. AG.70.1934)". State Archives of Aargau. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  3. "Neue Zürcher Nachrichten 8 April 1905 Edition 02 — e-newspaperarchives.ch". www.e-newspaperarchives.ch. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  4. "Neue Zürcher Nachrichten 2 April 1912 Edition 02 — e-newspaperarchives.ch". www.e-newspaperarchives.ch. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  5. Archive of the Civil Registry Office, Menziken-Burg
  6. ^ Die Papierfabrik Frey und Wiederkehr, Rolf Bolliger (2005) Teil 1:https://www.hvw.ch/die_papierfabrik_frey_und_wiederkehr.137de.html
  7. Heinrich Frey becomes partner in Häusler & Cie, name incorrectly spelled Frei https://www.e-periodica.ch/digbib/view?pid=sha-001%3A1895%3A13%3A%3A934&referrer=search#934
  8. Zuerich, ETH-Bibliothek. "Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt = Feuille officielle suisse du commerce = Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio". E-Periodica (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  9. "History of Elco AG". Elco AG. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
  10. Der Papier-Fabrikant (in German). O. Elsner. 1917.
  11. Zuerich, ETH-Bibliothek. "Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt = Feuille officielle suisse du commerce = Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio". E-Periodica (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  12. Obrist, Karl (1952). Denkschrift zum 100 jährigen Bestehen der Bank in Menziken (in German). Bank in Menziken.
  13. Zuerich, ETH-Bibliothek. "Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt = Feuille officielle suisse du commerce = Foglio ufficiale svizzero di commercio". E-Periodica (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-18.
  14. Samuel Frey in the Hospital chronicle, Menziken https://www.spitalverein.ch/images/downloads/allg/10567_Spitalchronik.pdf
  15. Article in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), 100th anniversary of Jakob Frey in 1924
  16. State Archive of Aargau, Aarau (acceptance letter, see photograph, 1901)
  17. Badener Kalender oder Richtiger Bote: 1915 (in German). Sauerländer. 1914.
  18. Mittler, Otto (1958). Biographisches Lexikon des Aargaus, 1803-1957 (in German). H.R. Sauerländer.
  19. Death notice of S. Victor Frey, 17 July 1953 (NZZ) https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19530717-03.2.33.6&srpos=2&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Viktor+Frey+1953-------0-----
  20. Death notice of Emma Frey-Kieser, 2 March 1936 (NZZ) https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19360302-01.2.51.2&srpos=1&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Frey%252DKieser-------0-----
  21. Civil Registry Archive, Menziken-Burg AG
  22. Death notice of Guido Gyssler-Frey, 8 February 1950 (NZZ) https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19500208-01.2.33.1&srpos=1&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Guido+Gyssler-------0-----
  23. Death notice of Max Hermann Vogt, 9 March 1952 (NZZ) https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19520309-01.2.54.3&srpos=1&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Max+Vogt%252DFrey-------0-----
  24. Death notice of Eugen Hermann Vogt (grandson of Samuel Frey), 9 May 1985 (NZZ) https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/?a=d&d=NZZ19850509-01.2.73.1&srpos=2&e=-------de-20--1--img-txIN-Eugen+Vogt%252DSiepmann-------0-----

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