Kessler, Earle, 1895-1935

KESSLER, COLBY

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:36

Birth: April 10, 1895
Death: July 12, 1935

From the Alton Democrat, July 19, 1935, Rock Valley news:

EARL KESSLER FUNERAL SUN.
Former Rock Valley Man Dies In Sioux City, Iowa

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the home of Mrs. George W. Kessler for Earl L. Kessler of 1717 Silver Street, Sioux City. Earl Kessler was born here on April 10, 1895, living here until he was about 15 years of age when the family moved to Sioux City. Surviving him are his mother, Mrs. J. E. Kessler, one brother, Bert Kessler of Sioux City, and two sisters, Mrs. E. Rowley and Mrs. Bonnie, both of Los Angeles. Reverend G. A. Tyle conducted the funeral services here and interment was made at Valley View Cemetery.

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From the Rock Valley Bee, July 19, 1935:

Former Rock Valley Boy Buried Here Last Sunday

Earl Kessler, a former Rock Valley boy, passed away at his home in Sioux City last Friday morning, and the remains were brought to Rock Valley Sunday for burial in the Valley View Cemetery. His death was due to tuberculosis, from which he had suffered for four or five years.

Earl Kessler was born in Rock Valley April 10, 1895. When he was about five years old his parents moved to Sioux City, and since that time he has lived at various places in northwest Iowa. For about 19 years he had lived in Sioux City. He was brakeman on the Northwestern railroad for several years.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Kessler, former Rock Valley residents. His father died 27 years ago. He is survived by his mother, two sisters, Mrs. Edah Rowley and Mrs. Bonnie Perry, of Los Angeles, California, and one brother, Bert Kessler, of Sioux City.

Funeral services were held in Sioux City Sunday morning and the remains were brought to Rock Valley where short services were held at the Kessler home here, and the remains taken to Valley View Cemetery.

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RESEARCH NOTES

His death certificate has Earl L. Kessler, residence 1717 Silver St., Sioux City; resident of Sioux City 35 years; divorced, wife Esther Kessler; born April 19, 1895, in Rock Valley, Iowa; parents Jacob Kessler, born in Pennsylvania, and Jennie Colby, born in Wisconsin; occupation, switchman, Milwaukee Railway; died in the [Woodbury] County Hospital, Sioux City, at 7 a.m. July 12, 1935; cause, acute spontaneous pneumothorax [air leaking into the space between the lungs and chest wall] following artificial pneumothorax[?], onset 7-9-1935, and bilateral advanced active pulmonary tuberculosis, onset 1932?

The Sioux County Cemetery Index has him as Earle E. Kessler, born 10 April 1895, died 12 July 1935, Valley View Cem, Rock Valley IA. – as does his FindaGrave page, with a photo of his headstone. FindaGrave gives his parents as Jacob S. Kessler (1867-1907) and Jennie Leota Colby Kessler (1870-1951).

His draft registration card (June 1917) has him as Earle Lee Kessler (and he signs it that way), age 23, born April 10, 1894 in Rock Valley; residence Ego Hotel, Sioux City; occupation, brakeman, Great Northern Railroad Company; single; medium height and build, brown eyes, brown hair.

(Ancestry.com also has an entry in two registers of convicts for the Men’s Penitentiary, Fort Madison, Iowa, for an Earl Kessler (#12334), age 28, born in Iowa, admitted on 1 Nov 1922, sentenced on 30 Oct. 1922 to a maximum of five years for assault with intent to rob in Woodbury County; described as 5’6-7/8” tall, 136 pounds, dark complexion, brown eyes, brown hair. This incident received a little coverage in the Sioux City press, one article also mentioning him having a brother, Bert.)