Jessica M. Weis

Who was Jessica M. Weis?

Jessica McCullough Weis was a two-term Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Rochester, New York.

Weis was born in Chicago, the daughter of Charles H. McCullough Jr. and Jessie Martin McCullough. Her father was president of the Lackawanna Steel Company in Lackawanna, New York. She was educated at the Franklin School in Buffalo, at Miss Wright's School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and at Madame Rieffel's French School in New York City. In 1921 she married Charles William Weis Jr. of Rochester, who became president of the Stecher Traung Lithographic Company. They had three children.

As a young woman, Weis worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross, the Junior League, and other charitable organizations. In 1923 she founded the Chatterbox Club, a women's social club. Weis first became active in politics during the 1936 election campaign of Alf Landon, when she organized state-wide road caravans to support his election. She held various posts in the local, state, and national Republican Party. She was vice chairman of the Monroe County Republican Committee from 1937 until 1952. She was also a member of the Republican National Committee from 1944 until 1963.