John Weiss

Weiss, Rev. John. (Boston, Massachusetts, June 28, 1828 [sic]--March 9, 1879, Boston). He graduated from Harvard College in 1837, and from the Harvard Divinity School in 1843. He was ordained minister of the First Church, (Unitarian), Watertown, Mass., in 1843; was minister of the First Church, New Bedford, Mass., 1847-1858; and served the church at Watertown again 1862-1869. He was a leader in the anti-slavery movement and a prolific author of books and essays. For Visitation Day at the Divinity School, 1843, he wrote a hymn beginning "A wondrous star our pioneer," which was included in the Book of Hymns, 1846, compiled by S. Longfellow and S. Johnson, and in their later book, Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. The Book of Hymns also included in a hymn "For a Summer Festival" beginning "Beneath thy trees we meet today," which is in the Universalist Church Harmonies, 1895. His hymn "The world throws wide its brazen gates" was included in Hedge and Huntington's Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853. Three other hymns by him, which have not found their way into any hymn books, are printed in Putnam's Singers and Songs.

Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, 1875, gives his birth date as June 28, 1818.

--Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives