Biography

1845 -

SAMUEL WEISS, M.D.  Among the representative members of the medical profession in Lebanon, none held higher in public esteem than Dr. Samuel Weiss, who was born August 20, 1845, in South Lebanon township, Lebanon county, son of Samuel and Sarah (Smith) Weiss, both natives of the same county.
Samuel Weiss, the father, was born in 1800, son of Henry Weiss, who was a resident of Lebanon county near Schaefferstown, and died in 1886.  The mother of Dr. Weiss was a daughter of Henry Smith, a well-known resident of Cornwall, Lebanon county.  These parents had a family of seven children.  Mr. and Mrs. Weiss were highly respected people, and were members of the United Brethren Church.
Dr. Weiss was reared on his father's farm, and until he was eighteen years of age devoted his winters to study in the public schools and his summers to farm work, developing in this manner both mind and body.  Ambitious to enter the wider fields of usefulness, the young man spent one year in the Lebanon Academy, while it was under the scholarly care of Cyrus Boger, and supplemented this with two years at the Millersville State Normal School.  In April, 1867, he first turned his attention to medicine, entering upon a course of study with Dr. William M. Guilford, of Lebanon, where he prepared for entrance to Bellevue Medical College, New York City, graduating with credit four years later.
In 1872 Dr. Weiss located for practice in Lebanon.  His capacity was recognized by his appointment to the position of county physician, a position of responsibility which he held for fifteen years (with but one year's intermission), during which time he served with great efficiency.
Dr. Weiss had been prominently identified with State politics, for a number of years.  His personal following large, and his popularity led to his selection in 1900, by the anti-Quay people of Lebanon county, to stand for State Senator, of the Seventeenth Senatorial District of Pennsylvania, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Gen. J. P. S. Gobin, who became a candidate for Lieutenant-governor.  The political history of the canvass all over the State, at this time, tells of much party and factional feeling, and in Lebanon county the result was waited for with interest all over the State.  Current history records the attitude of the various factions in regard to Senator M. S. Quay, and the party to which Dr. Weiss was attached did good work in the county canvass.  Doubtless it was on account of the realization of the peculiar fitness of Dr. Weiss for the high honor, that caused his triumph, for he was elected Senator by a majority of between 2,300 and 2,400, although many of the Quay men did not vote against him.  When Senator Quay came up in the United States Senatorial contest, Dr. Weiss conscientiously opposed his election.  Dr. Weiss's ability was recognized by the administrative body by his selection for the following committees:  Appropriations, Banks and Building and Loan Associations; Educational; Forestry, Game and Fisheries; Pensions and Gratuities; and Public Health and Sanitation.
Dr. Weiss was connected with many enterprises of a financial nature in his city and for a time was a director in the People's National Bank, resigning from the same. As a progressive and thorough physician and skillful surgeon, Dr. Weiss enjoyed an enviable reputation.  He was the first surgeon in Lebanon county to perform ovariotomy, and has kept in touch with all modern discoveries, being generally regarded as a leader in the profession.  Since its establishment, he has been surgeon and a member of the gynecological staff of the Good Samaritan Hospital of Lebanon.  In 1889 Dr. Weiss was united in marriage with Miss Zitella McCauly, of Lebanon.
 
Biographical Annals of Lebanon County Pennsylvania.
Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1904, Page 40 - 41