André Emile Weiss

Pastor, Reformed Church

Born: 30 November 1818, Altkirch, Haut-Rhin, France
Died: 12 May 1896, Altwiller, Bas-Rhin, France

Father: Jean Jacques Weiss
Mother: Marie Catherine Françoise Benoit

Spouse 1: Octavie Doersch, 1819-1846
Married in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France on 22 June 1844

Children: 


Spouse 2: Christine Caroline Schneegans, 1820-1892
Married in Barr, Bas-Rhin, France on 27 April 1847

Children:
  • Paul André, 1848-1865
  • Emile Timothé, 1849-?
  • Théophile Auguste, 1850-?
  • Erneste Samuel, 1851-1852
  • Jules Erneste, 1853-?
  • Anne Caroline, 1855-?
  • Jean, 1856-1856
  • Théodor Chrétien, 1857-1891
  • Lydia Julie, 1859-1939

Biographical information 

Known by his second name, Emile.

In 1841, Emile was 23 when his thesis for his Bachelor of Theology was presented at the Protestant Faculty of Theology in Strasbourg (1). It was his hope that he might become a missionary, possibly in Tahiti or Canada, however this did not come to fruition (2), and in 1846 he became the pastor of the Reformed Church in Breitenbach (Hohwald) in the Bas-Rhin region of France (3).

Emile Weiss’ first marriage was to Octavie Doersch, in Strasbourg in 1844. Within a year, they had a son, Nathanael, and a year after that Emile was widowed by the death of Octavie. On Octavie’s death record Emile was listed as an evangelical minister, though he did not yet appear to have his own parish. They were living in Gerardmer, a town in the Vosges mountains, at the time of Octavie’s death (less than two weeks after the birth of their second child). 

Widowed, with a toddler and a newborn, it did not take long for Emile to remarry. Emile married his second wife, Caroline, in the town of Barr, not far from Breitenbach, on 27 April 1847. Within a year, Caroline had given birth to her first child, Paul André, giving Emile a second son, and making Nathanael a big brother. 

In 1852 Emile moved on from Breitenbach to become the minister of the Reformed Protestant church in Altwiller. He was about 34 years old, and remained there until his death, aged 78, in 1896. The informant for Emile’s death was his daughter Anne. Emile and his second wife, Caroline, are both buried in the cemetery at Altwiller. 

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(1) Weiss, A.E. (1841). Examen des citations de l'Ancien Testament dans le Nouveau, thèse présentée à la Faculté de théologie protestante de Strasbourg ... pour obtenir le grade de bachelier en théologie, par André-Émile Weiss. Vve Berger-Levrault. 
(2) Société évangelique de Genève. (1847). Anniversaire: Assemblée Générale de la Société Evangelique de Genève Volume 2. Imprimerie de P.A. Bonnant.
(3) Herrmann, A. (1992). Le Climont: Weinberg: la communauté réformée du Val de Villé de 1648 à 1892. Société d’histoire du Val de Villé.

My sincere thanks go to Simon Williams for his assistance with information on André Emile Weiss.