SW-letter-8-6-1868-p1

A letter from Simon Wiess, of Wiess' Bluff, Texas,
to James M. Long, of Beaumont, Texas
dated August 6th, 1868,

seven days before Simon Wiess' death at age 68.
Could this be the last letter he ever wrote?

(Others mentioned in the letter are James Long's father, Davis Long and Simon's sons Napoleon Wiess, William Wiess and Valentine Wiess.)

A copy of the letter is at the Tyrrell Historical Library, 695 Pearl Street, P.O. Box 3827, Beaumont, Texas 77701, phone 409-833-2759. It was copied and mailed to this page's author by East Texas Historian, Mr. W.T. Block.

Click on the thumbnails at left to view the images (there are two images shown for each page -- the original, negative photostat format and a corrected "positive" version).

After selecting an image, a full-size version can be seen by clicking on it.

Right-click on any image to save it on your computer. (Be aware that the full-size images are large and may take a long time to download -- the "negatives" being about 1.4 Mbytes and the "positive" images varying from 400 K to 900 K. The transcription below is not an image.)

Private and Confidential

Wiess’ Bluff Texas

Aug 6 ^th 1868

James M. Long Esq

Beaumont

Dear Sir

You recolect when you were at my house, I suggested to you that I would take an interest in the Str “Orleans”. And you was to let me know, after consulting with your Father:

1^st, I therefore make the following proposition

I am willing to take one half, or one third interest in the Orleans, at cash -- and pay the cash down.

2^nd I think that I can arrainge with the Capt’ Engineer & Clerk, at a low salary -- say 25$ or 30$ per month, with an addition of a percentage, say from 5% to 10% and of the net earnings of the Boat, more or less, as we can agree.

3^rd I am satisfied that my Son N. Wiess, can run the Boat, especially in the Neches & Sabine Rivers, for about one third less expenses, at least less than any one else can do it for, as he is very equinomical and of sober & steady habits, and does not admit of spirituous liquor or gambling on board the Boat when he commands.

4^th All other hands on board, except the foregoing officers, to be engaged at a fixed salary.

5^th The Capt. of the Boat agrees to furnish a good Barge, that will carry from 400 to 500 Bales cotton, and can lighten over the bar say from 30 to 50 M ft of lumber.

6^th The Capt shall be entitled to receive for the use of the Barge a fourth part of what she may earn & the other three fourths to go to the general fund to the owners of the “Orleans”, for towage & all other necessary expenses.

7^th We shall also agree upon a Tariff of Weights, and I pledge myself that Wm. Wiess of Beaumont & V. Wiess ?? at this Bluff, shall give the Orleans the preference of their freights whenever that may be, provided insurance can be affected.

8^th The Clerk to be chosen for the Boat, to be approved by both parties.

9^th N. Wiess is a licensed pilot, but will have to get assistance when the business season is brisk.

Permit me farther to observe to you that we have some advantage in getting cotton on freight -- in Angelina, Nacogdoches, San Augustine &c as we are personally acquainted with all the principal merchants & farmers in the upper counties. I submit the above for your consideration -- amendment or suggestions as you may think propper to make as the foregoing is mearley a basis of the arrangement. If the business is started upon a very equinomical principal, it may form a success in the incoming season.

I have but a little doubt that we can get the affairs of the Boat ??? (??crew??) ??? a low salary, and let them look to the Boat for more, on her successful season. My plan as regards the offering, I believe to be fair & equitable, and I believe that I can get the affairs on the terms above proposed. It is the high salaries paid to the Officers of St Boats & the hard times that has caused so many boats to be sold by the Marshall, and that must ??? ???? us at the outset. Hoping that some ???????? suggestions will meet with your approbation, and let me hear from you at your earliest convenience. This subject to remain in private between us, until the arrangement, if any, is closed.

I remain

Yours very Respectfully,

S. Wiess

Simon Wiess:

The Civil War caused a drain on the financial resources of Simon Wiess (68) and his family. Whether this had anything to do with the business proposal he made to James Long in this letter is not known. Simon died August 13, 1868, exactly one week after this letter was written. It is not known whether anything ever came of his proposal to James Long, but the Orleans was purchased that same year by K.D. Keith and A.N. Vaughn. It was sunk three years later by the hurricane of 1871, destroying the fortune of K.D. Keith.

His eldest son Captain Napoleon Wiess (29), whom he recommended as master and pilot for the subject vessel of this letter, the "Orleans", died just four years later. Napoleon is reported to have owned and captained three steamboats on the Neches and Sabine rivers, the sternwheelers "Adriance", "J. H. Graham" and the "Albert Gallatin". No record is known of his ever having served on the "Orleans".

The letter mentions two more of Simon's five sons, Captain William Wiess (26) and Valentine Wiess (23). William was also a steamboat captain and became owner and master of the sternwheelers "Alamo" and "Adrianne". Valentine ran the store at Wiess' Bluff and was to become one of Beaumont's most successful businessmen. William's twin brother, Mark Wiess, and their youngest brother, Massena Wiess, are not mentioned in this letter.

Captain Napoleon "Nap" Wiess, second child and eldest son of Simon and Margaret (Sturrock) Wiess. He is referred to in Simon's letter above as "N. Wiess".

James M. Long:

Mr. Block writes in A History of Jefferson county, Texas: "An early Beaumont sawmiller, Captain Long enlisted in Co. E, Spaight's Bn., in 1862. Despite his short life span and death in 1873, he greatly influenced the growth of Beaumont's lumber and shingle industries during the post-war years." ** (Note: Brothers Napoleon, William and Mark Wiess served in Co. A of Spaight's Battalion.)

    He writes again in "A Tale of 'King Lumber:' Godparent of Beaumont": "The four families associated with the mill -- the Fletchers, Keiths, Longs, and Carrolls -- would eventually account for four-fifths of the timber processed in the "sawdust city" ...
    ...
    In 1865, Davis Long of DeSoto Parish, La., joined his son, Capt. James Long, in the management of the Long and Co. sawmill. Four of his sons-in-law, William A. Fletcher, John W. Keith, and Frank L. and Joseph A. Carroll, were wed, respectively, to Julian, Haseltine, Sarah, and Martha Long. In time, the family connections formed an interlocking directorate over three of Beaumont's four largest timber-processing firms, as well as owned several mills elsewhere in East Texas and Louisiana."

In another article, "Capt. K.D. Keith", Mr. Block notes that K.D. Keith, in partnership with his brother-in-law, A.N. Vaughan, bought the steamboat Orleans in 1868 -- this author presumes this followed the death of Simon Wiess in August of that year. Mr. Block writes: "September 1, 1871, a hurricane sank the Orleans, destroyed the Keith and Vaughan cotton business and stripped the Keith family of everything they owned .... (they settled) at Luling, Texas, where he prospered as a hardware merchant until his death in 1909." (** Note: Massena Wiess, Simon's youngest son, lived at Luling also.)

In the Handbook of Texas Online's article on William A. Fletcher, it is noted that he went to work for his brother-in-law, James M. Long, in Texas in 1869. William Fletcher was also acquainted with Simon Wiess and his family as he had moved his family from Louisiana and, in June of 1856, they lived with the Wiess family at Wiess' Bluff.

From the web page www.ritchies.net/GenealogyMark/g062.html, comes these notes: "James M. Long had 2nd class headright certificate #98 in Nacogdoches ..." (It is suspected this is the same person addressed in this letter by Simon Wiess.)

Notes:

Please contact me with any corrections.
???? Question marks "????" indicate words I couldn't make out. Please contact me if you think you know what should be there.
Simon uses the word "equinomical" twice. From the context, and from subsequent searches, it appears he means "frugal" or fiscally wise. Research on-line and at a local college library turned up no instances of this word in any dictionaries. The only uses of this word the author found were on-line in a eulogy, in the preface to a book, in some 19^th century essays and in letters written in 1862 and in 1874.

Return to the STURROCK / WIESS Family History Pages