Simon Wiess, a Polish immigrant, came to the East Texas county of Jefferson at Sabine Pass in 1835. The next year, he married Margaret Sturrock in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Margaret was from Dundee, Scotland. Their East Texas family was first involved in shipping cotton and in milling lumber, owning the Reliance Lumber Mill which was the largest of its kind. Prior to the turn of the century, the Wiess brothers followed diverse interests -- among them investments in cattle, land and oil.
Perhaps one of the best known events to involve the Wiess family was Spindletop -- the first oil gusher -- which so radically affected and changed Beaumont, East Texas and the entire United States, signalling the beginning of the modern petroleum industry. Both the land and the principles of that event were linked to the Wiess family. Spindletop was drilled on cattle land belonging to the partnership of William McFaddin, Valentine Wiess and Obadiah Kyle. William M. McFaddin's sister, Sarah H. McFaddin married William Perry Herring and three of the Herring's daughters married into the Wiess family -- Eliza Herring married William Wiess (son of Simon); Mary Herring married Valentine Wiess (son of Simon); and Helen Herring married Dr. Obadiah M. Kyle, and their son, William Wesley Kyle, married Clyde Wiess, a daughter of Massena Wiess and granddaughter of Simon Wiess. The sister-in-law of William M. McFaddin's son, William P.H. McFaddin, was Elvira Elizabeth Janes who married Simon's youngest son, Massena Wiess.
Today, some of the descendants of Simon and Margaret Wiess still live in East Texas, while others are spread all over the world. The influence of Simon and Margaret can be felt in the pursuits of their descendants. Though some are still involved in the petroleum industry, most follow other paths, including homemakers, architects, jewelers, ministers, professors, authors, patrons of the arts and philanthropists. |
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