 After marrying Elisabeth am Rhyn, a member of the important Lucerne family am Rhyn, he added her name to his own family name.After studying philosophy and history in Bern and Geneva, he became a teacher at a school in St. Gallen in 1857.Between 1859 and 1877, as well as between 1885 and 1912, he was state archivist in St. Gallen.