Texas – The place Simon finally called home and where he raised his family. We don't know when he first visited Texas, but he was there before it won its independence from Mexico, and at least by 1833. He brought his new wife, Margaret Sturrock, to Nacogdoches in 1836, where he was Deputy Collector of Customs for the Republic of Texas at Camp Sabine (now the town of Sabine Pass) near the border of Texas and Louisiana. Camp Sabine was a military post of the United States at that time.. He is said to have been the first member of the Jewish faith to reside in Jefferson County, though he was never known to practice his religion in Texas. His wife, Margaret Sturrock, was a staunch Scotch Presbyterian. Margaret became plagued with chills and fever and Simon looked for another place to be their home, settling at what is now known as Wiess' Bluff, north of Beaumont in the extreme southwestern corner of Jasper County. Simon Wiess is listed in the The Handbook of Texas Online.
An admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte, he named his first son for him. This writer was told he brought acorns from the oak trees planted around Napoleon's temporary grave to plant in America, but recent evidence indicates it was his son Mark who brought those acorns and that he planted them in Beaumont. Some say Simon became a Christian when he settled in Southeast Texas where he was scorned and distrusted by the people there until they came to respect him as a man of honor.
He purchased the Old Stone Fort built by the Spaniards in 1779 and operated a trading post in it. William Sturrock later purchased the fort from Simon. The fort has been rebuilt and is now a tourist attraction in Nacogdoches.
He became a Neches River cotton broker at Wiess Bluff, Jasper County, in December 1839 after having operated unsuccessful stores at Nacogdoches, Beaumont, and Port Neches between 1836 and 1839. In 1840 he visited Galveston and participated with Harmony Lodge No. 6. In 1847, he met with DeWitt Clinton Lodge No. 129 in Jasper County, Texas. Two years later, on April 17 1849, he met with the Woodville, Texas Lodge.
By 1843 he was operating a peck mill at Wiess' Bluff to chip the bark from logs and square the timbers. It was the beginning of the area's early lumber business, which would make his sons and other Beaumonters wealthy. Just before the turn of the century, his sons owned the Reliance Lumber Company which was soon cutting 20 to 50 million feet of lumber per year – the largest enterprise in Beaumont and one of the largest sawmills in the world.
He was appointed postmaster at the post office in Patillo, Jefferson county, Texas beginning December 9, 1852 and then, July 21, 1853, at Wiess' Bluff.
Simon Wiess died at Wiess' Bluff on August 13, 1868 and is buried in the family graveyard there.
