Last Updated on September 18, 2011 by
Gunther Weiss, of the firm of Weiss & Frommel, proprietors of the Charleston Woolen-Mill, Charleston; was born in Leutenberg, Sharzburg, Rudolstadt, Germany, July 6, 1823; he attended school till the age of 14, and was then apprenticed to learn the weaver’s trade; in 1845, he came to the United States, landing in Galveston, Texas; on the breaking-out of the war with Mexico,. he volunteered in the 18th Tex. V. I., and served under Gen. Taylor; in the spring of 1848, he went to Cincinnati, where he remained until 1852, when he went to Terre Haute, Ind., and began business as a grocery and provision merchant, which he continued for twenty-two years; in 1874, he came to Charleston, and assumed an active part in the management of the Charleston Woolen-Mill, in which he had been a partner since 1869. Mr. Weiss was married Nov. 17, 1853, to Miss Carrie Newhart, of Cincinnati, a native of Bavaria, Germany; they have eight children – Otto P., Emma (wife of Alfred C. Ficklin, of Charleston), Louise, Aurora, Helena, Adolph G., Carrie and Maria.