Frank Cleveland Crees ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

  Burial Notes:

Find a Grave Memorial ID: 179809803
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179809803/frank_cleveland-crees: accessed 24 Aug 2026), memorial page for Frank Cleveland Crees (5 Jun 1884\'968 Jun 1954), Find a Grave Memorial ID 179809803, citing San Jacinto Valley Cemetery, San Jacinto, Riverside County, California, USA; Maintained by Kim Pike (contributor 49261920).
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  Noted events in his life were:

1. 1885 Iowa State Census, 1885, Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa, United States. ⁴ 1885 Iowa State Census
Page 385-386, Line 30, Family 106
Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa
Township 79, Range 3, Section 35; SE Quarter of the SW Quarter
Frank Crees..0..IA

(Living with parents.)

2. 1895 Iowa State Census, January 1895, Moscow Township, Muscatine, Iowa, United States. ⁵ 1895 Iowa State Census
Page 232, Line 7, Family 100
Moscow Township, Muscatine, Iowa
Frank Crees..10..Muscatine County, IA

(Living with parents.)

3. 1900 US Census, 4 June 1900, Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa, United States. ⁶ 1900 US Census
Sheet 2A, District 31, Family 26
Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa
Frank Crees..Son..Jun 1884..15..IA..Farm Laborer

(Living with parents.)

4. 1910 US Census, April 1910, Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa, United States. ⁷ 1910 US Census
Sheet 4B, District 34, Household 87
Iowa Township, Cedar, Iowa
Frank C. Crees..Son..24..IA

(Living with parents.)

NOTE - If his birth date was 5 Jun 1884, then his age should have been 25 instead of 24.

5. United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, 12 September 1918, Waseca, Waseca, Minnesota, United States. ⁸ Name: Frank C Crees
Birth Date: 05 Jun 1884

6. 1920 US Census, 5 January 1920, Waseca, Waseca, Minnesota, United States. ² 1920 US Census
Sheet 3A, District 177, Household 47
Waseca, Waseca, Minnesota
508 West Elm Street; Home Owned, with mortgage
Frank C. Cruse..Head..35..IA..Clerk, Freight Office, Railroad

(Living with wife and 3 children.)

7. 1940 US Census, 29 April 1940, Hemet Township, Riverside, California, United States. ³ 1940 US Census
Sheet 4B, District 33-14, Family 91, Roll 276
Hemet Township, Riverside, California
Last Place of Residence: Same Place
Home owned, $1000
Frank Crees..Head..55..IA..10th grade..Farmer

(Living with wife.)

8. United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, 1942, Hemet, Riverside, California, United States. ⁹ Name: Frank Crees
Birth Date: 05 Jun 1884

What is interesting about this WWII Draft Registration card is that it indicates "No Middle Name" in spite of the fact that two previous census records indicated a middle initial and his WW I Draft Registration Card also indicated a middle initial.

Frank married Edith Pearl Riddle, daughter of Edward Everett Riddle and Ora Anna Doty, on 10 April 1912 in Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa, United States.^{1 2 3} (Edith Pearl Riddle was born on 20 October 1884 in Atalissa, Muscatine, Iowa, United States,^{2 3 10} died on 18 June 1953 in Riverside, California, United States ¹⁰ and was buried in June 1953 in San Jacinto Valley Cemetery, San Jacinto, Riverside, California, United States.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

1. 1920 US Census, January 1920, Waseca, Waseca, Minnesota, United States. ² 1920 US Census
Sheet 3A, District 177, Household 47
Waseca, Waseca County, Minnesota
Home owned
Frank C. Cruse..Head..35..IA
Edath P. Cruse..Wife..35..IA
Vera E. Cruse..Daughter..5..IA
Virgil S. Cruse.Son..2..IA

2. 1940 US Census, 29 April 1940, Hemet Township, Riverside, California, United States. ³ 1940 US Census
Sheet 4B, District 33-14, Family 91, Roll 276
Hemet Township, Riverside County, California
Last Place of Residence: Same Place
Home owned, $1000
Frank Crees..Head..55..IA..10th grade..Farmer
Edith Crees..Wife..55..IA..1 year college

  Marriage Notes:

Researching Frank and Edith Crees has proven to be a little difficult. Their three children were all born in Iowa, but by 1918 they were living in Waseca, Waseca County, Minnesota and Frank was working as a Freight Clerk for the C&NW Railroad. The 1920 Census shows them still living in Waseca, Minnesota.

But this is where the first contradiction shows up. That 1920 census shows only two children with the parents. Absent was Patsy Crees who was born about 1915 and would have been about 5 years old at the time of the census.

There are two birth documents found in Iowa for their first daughter, Vera, and their oldest son, Virgil, but they apparently also had a middle daughter named Patsy that was born in Iowa in about 1915. She shows up on a marriage license in 1934 in Los Angles in which her brother, Virgil, was a witness to her ceremony. No other information about Patsy has yet been found. Because this supposed daughter was not with the family on the 1920 census, one has to ask why her name was absent. Perhaps her age on the marriage license was understated and she was not born until 1921 but that would have made her only 13 years old at the time of her wedding. So that understatement of her age obviously is not the answer. Another possibility is that she was adopted by Frank and Edith sometime after the 1920 census. That could make her age a legitimate value, explain why she did not appear on the 1920 census, and the fact that her true birth name may never be known. It would be nice to find the family in the 1930 census to see if the mysterious daughter named Patsy shows up but so far no records have emerged for that time period and the whereabouts of the parents between 1920 and 1940 is unknown.

Five years following the marriage of Patsy, the youngest daughter, Vera, was married in 1939 in Reno, Nevada. The Social Security Death Index shows her dying in San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1997. Very little is known about Vera other than the Linn Family records show her giving birth to a son and the names of several of his descendants.

Meanwhile, the oldest son, Virgil, was also married in Southern California in 1940 shortly after being enumerated in the 1940 Census in Los Angeles. There is a record of an enlistment in the US Army in 1945 at Fort McArthur in southern California near San Pedro for a Virgil S. Crees with a birth year of 1917. However, this enlistment record indicates a birth location of Alaska and a marital status of single so I am not sure if this is the same person in spite of the somewhat unique name. Virgil and his wife are both buried in the far northern California city of Fort Jones just south of the Oregon border.

No burial locations for Frank and Edith have yet been discovered although the Linn Family records do provide a date of death but no location. The California Death Index record shows that Edith died in Riverside County. I suspect that both Frank and Edith remained in the southern California area for the rest of their lives and are probably buried somewhere in rural Riverside county.
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