The store of Massena Wiess in Round Rock, Texas. Massena was the youngest son of Simon Wiess & Margaret Sturrock. (It is not known which of these men is Massena, if any. The items in the front are pictures, there is a ceiling fan center top and two mannikins center rear.)
Massena Wiess
After their father's death in 1868, brothers Val (Valentine) and Massena Wiess operated the family store at Wiess' Bluff for the next two years. It appears they commuted back and forth to Beaumont, for, on August 8, 1868, Massena was elected county treasurer of Jefferson county. He resigned this office in 1871 when he moved to Round Rock, Texas, where he remained for many years in the mercantile and cotton business. Another of his brothers, William Wiess married Louisa Elizabeth Carothers of Georgetown, and William served on the board of trustees of Southwestern University there.
He spent his business career in Round Rock, Luling and Sour Lake Texas.
Around 1902, Massena Wiess returned to Beaumont after a thirty-year absence while living at Round Rock and Luling in Central Texas. Other than his cotton-buying and mercantile activities, little is known of his stay there, but, after his return, Massena was the only Wiess brother to continue actively as a sawmiller. For many years afterward, he was engaged in sawmill operations at Sour Lake, Texas, and, in his later years, maintained a real estate office in the Kyle building in Beaumont. He continued as well his interest in agricultural affairs, and, until his death on June 22, 1921, devoted much of his time to the South Texas State Fair and its agricultural exhibits. His survivors included a son, Edward M. Wiess of Corpus Christi, and five daughters as follows: Sarah Nevada (Mrs. N. H. Cook), Clyde (Mrs. W. W. Kyle), Everett (Mrs. F. H. Votaw), Blanche (Mrs. J. J. Elam), and Evelyn (Mrs. Virgil Keith).
Where did Massena's name come from?
Simon Wiess named his youngest son Massena after Andre Massena, a highly-respected Marshal under Napoleon Bonaparte. He had named his eldest son after Napoleon and had brought acorns from where Napoleon had been exiled to plant at his home in East Texas. Napoleon Bonaparte had a profound influence on the lives of all the people of Europe in the early 19th century, and surely Simon was no exception. As a child, he must have been aware of the exploits of Marshal Andre Massena who, for a brief time, was Poland’s monarch.
Simon was born in Lublin, Poland in 1800. Just before he was born, in 1794, Polish General Thaddeus Kosciusko led a national uprising of the Polish forces against the Russians and the Prussians in an unsuccessful rebellion that ended with the final partition of Poland. Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria. In 1807, when Simon was 7 years old, Napoleon Bonaparte took from Prussia its previously annexed Polish territories and created the Duchy of Warsaw, naming Massena as its monarch. In 1815, after the abdication of Napoleon and about the time Simon left Lublin and sailed off to make his fortune, the Congress of Vienna changed the territorial boundaries of Poland again. One can only imagine the stories Simon's parents told this young lad about the old days of Poland and of the great conqueror Napoleon and his general, Massena.
Did Simon Wiess meet Napoleon Bonaparte?
Did Simon Wiess’ path ever cross those of Napoleon Bonaparte or Andre Massena? Did the acorns Simon brought from Napoleon's place of exile to his new home in Texas come from Elba or from St. Helena? Did he visit St. Helena before Napoleon died, or perhaps after his death?
Family tradition has it that Simon Wiess was the third or fourth son in a Jewish family and therefore wasn't entitled to any inheritance. We are told he was given a ship when he was fifteen (1815) and that he traveled extensively.
Napoleon was defeated and exiled to Elba in April of 1814, though only for a year, when he retook Paris in March of 1815, leading to his rule of "One Hundred Days". His defeat at Waterloo and surrender to the British in June of 1815 ended his campaigns for all time and he was exiled to St. Helena. This occurred about the time Simon left home, so he could not have visited Napoleon at Elba.
Marshal Andre Massena died in France in 1817, when Simon had been sailing 2 years. Napoleon's final home was his exile on the island of Saint Helena, which is in the South Atlantic 1200 miles West of the Southwestern African coast. He died there in 1821.
Simon could have been in or near France while Massena was still alive. Massena died in 1817. Simon was in Constantinople and Asia Minor in 1825, four years after Napoleon's death. Since Elba is off the West coast of Italy, not far from Asia Minor, he could easily have visited there. But, the family story is that Simon brought the acorns to his home in Texas from the trees that grew around Napoleon's temporary grave, and that grave was on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, for it was several years before his remains were returned to France.
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Andre Massena
, French Marshal, Prince de Essling, Duc de Raguse (1758-1817) was a Marshal serving under Napoleon. He was a key soldier in the stunning 1796 Campaign and the battles of Montenotte, Lodi, Castiglione, Bassano, Caldiero, Arcola, and Rivoli. In 1799, Massena took command of the army in Switzerland and ran into Russia's Field Marshal Suvarov at the second battle of Zurich. Victorious, his reputation soared and even the harrowing siege and eventual surrender of his men at Mantua could not tarnish it. He fought at Marengo and succeeded Bonaparte as commander of the Army of Italy, but his unashamed looting required his almost instant dismissal.