Kessey, Floyd N., 1890-1938

KESSEY, JOHNSON, CUTSHAW, BESHERRO

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:34

From the Alton Democrat, April 29, 1938:

Floyd Kessey of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, passed on last week following a heart attack, according to news received by members of the Pitts family. He was born at Alton and spent his early boyhood here but has lived in the west for many years. His older brother, Captain Ray Kessey, died about a year ago at his home in Pt. Townsend, Wash. He is survived by his wife and several children, his mother, Mrs. Anna Kessey, and sister, Mrs. Marlys Huntoon, both of Iowa City.

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From the Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), 18 April 1938:

SPORTING GOODS MAN DIES

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, April 17.—Floyd N. Kessey, 47, for several years a sporting goods merchant here, died suddenly in his home today. He had been recuperating from a serious illness in December. He was a graduate of Shadduck [i.e., Shattuck] Military Academy in Faribault, Minn., and was a member of the American Legion. He came here in 1910.

Surviving are his widow, Marie; two daughters, Virginia, at home, and Mrs. Marlys Sugloch, Spokane; a son, Alton; his mother, Mrs. Anna Kessey, and a sister in Iowa City, Iowa.

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RESEARCH NOTES

His death certificate has Floyd N. Kessey, 802 Montana Ave., Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, resident of the city 28 years, a sporting goods dealer for 20 years; born March 9, 1890 in Alton, Iowa; parents Nels Kessey, born in Norway, and Anna Johnson, born in Wisconsin; wife Marie; died at 10 a.m. April 17, 1938; cause, coronary heart disease; contributory cause, chronic bronchitis; buried in Spokane, Washington.

His World War I draft registration card (June 1917) shows him as Floyd N. Kessey, age 27, resident of Decorah, Iowa, born March 9, 1890 at Alton, Iowa, an American Express Company platform man at Waterloo, Iowa, single with a dependent child; tall, medium build, brown eyes, light brown hair.

A Linn County, Iowa marriage register on Ancestry.com has an entry for groom Floyd Nelson Kessey, age 24, resident of Coeur d’Alene, occupation “express business,” born in Alton, Iowa, parents Nels Kessey and Anna Johnson; bride Ethel D. Cutshaw, age 20, resident of Waterloo, Iowa, born in Des Moines, parents William Cutshaw and Lydia E. Yeomans; married at Cedar Rapids March 24, 1913. (The 1920 U.S. census for Waterloo has an Ethel Kessey, age 23, divorced, a telephone operator, lodging with a local family. She appears to have subsequently married Ray A. Hurlbut.)

Ancestry.com has an Oregon marriages index record for Floyd N. Kessey, married 23 Nov 1918 in Clackamas, Oregon; no spouse given.

The 1910 U.S. census shows Floyd N. Kessey, age 20, a bookkeeper in a bank, born in Iowa, father born in Norway and mother in Iowa, living in Sherman, Kootenai County, Idaho, lodging along with three other people in the home of artist Walter E. Steves.

In the 1920 census for Waterloo, Iowa there is a Lloyd M. Kessey, age 29, born in Iowa, father born in Norway and mother in Michigan, working as an express company clerk; wife Marie A., age 24, born in France; and daughter Marlys E., age 6, born in Iowa. Marlys seems to be his daughter with first wife Ethel: Ancestry.com has a record book of the Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota, showing a Marlys Ethel, daughter of Floyd Kessey and wife Ethel, baptised 27 September 1914.

The 1930 census for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (taken in April), has Floyd N. Kessey, age 40, born in Iowa, father born in Norway and mother in Wisconsin, age at first marriage 28, a sporting goods merchant; wife Marie (30), born in France, age at first marriage 19; and daughters Maryls[Marlys] (16) and Virginia (10), both born in Iowa, and son Alton (4-11/12), born in Idaho.

However, the 1930 city directory for Port Angeles, Washington lists Floyd M. (no occupation given) and Marie Kessey at the same address as his brother and sister-in-law, Raymond J. and Hildred H. Kessey, 1932 Washington [street]. See the separately posted obituary for Raymond J. Kessey for additional family information.

The death certificate for his son Alton B. Kessey, a resident of Great Falls, Montana and member of the U.S. Air Force, who died in an airplane crash in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in 1961, gives Alton’s parents as Floyd Kessey and Marie A. Besherro. Marie apparently remarried: Ancestry.com has an Idaho marriage certificate for Marie B. Kessey of Coeur d-Alene and Willard S. Bowen of Pocatello, married in Pocatello 10 March 1944.