Jonas Furrer


Jonas Furrer was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council. He was affiliated to the Radical Party.

Biography

After studying at Zürich, Heidelberg and Göttingen, he was elected to the Grand Council of Switzerland in 1834, where he was president in 1837 and 1839. In 1845 he became president of the cantonal diet of Zürich. He was President of the Swiss Diet from 2 April 1845 to 31 December 1845.
He was elected to the Federal Council on 16 November 1848 as one of the seven initial members. During his time in office, he presided over the following departments:
Furrer was member of the Akazia Lodge at Winterthur, he was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland in 1844. He was the first president of the Confederation from 21 November 1848 to 31 December 1849 and again in 1852, 1855 and 1858.
Furrer died in office on 25 July 1861. He wrote Das Erbrecht der Stadt Winterthur.