The Floyd Wallace Crosby families were prolific letter writers. The letters tell the day-to-day trials of the family, and how larger events reached them. The 1919 flu hit the George Francis Crosby family hard. Disease and death in Cuba hit the Clarence Wallace Crosby family hard.
Most of these letters were kept by Jesse N. Crosby in Cuba and brought back to the mainland. Lula Crosby Keyes held them and gave them to Larry Crosby in 2000. Many are more than 100 years old.
The table below follows the old letters page. Dates in amber open a PDF hosted on this site. Rows without a file still keep the old index line, so no letter is dropped from the list we could read.
| Date | From | At | To | At | About |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1902-07-06 | Marguerite E. Crosby | Unknown | Jesse N. & Lula B. | Cuba | Jesse & Lula honeymoon, marriage advice |
| 1908-04-05 | Floyd W. Crosby | Dickson, TN | Crosby children | Bartle, Cuba | Paper weights, business cards, Walter trip to NY, canning factory, Nellie |
| 1909-01-13 | Jesse N. Crosby | Dickson, TN | Floyd W. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | New stack for boiler, work slack, Jesse wants out of business, Floyd reply at bottom |
| 1912-09-24 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Abbie Hobbs | Paw Paw, MI | Floyd at the mill six days a week; Jesse, Walter, Clarence, Teresa |
| 1915c | Teresa L. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Unknown | Health, serving the Lord; Clarence hates wheels; baby; Floyd “friendly old dear” | |
| 1915-12-17 | George F. Crosby | Zion, IL | Floyd W. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Turns down a job in Cuba |
| 1916-06-27 | Floyd W. Crosby | Detroit, MI | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Money; 1912 Oakland car for $165; Bertha here |
| 1916-08-04 | Floyd W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Car 550 miles; two accidents; Howard should stay |
| 1916-12-18 | Floyd W. Crosby | Galena, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Anson’s treatment; living expenses; “our best working days are past” |
| 1917-04-15 | Floyd W. Crosby | Monroe, WI | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Zion, George, Clarence, Cuba revolution, Anson’s house |
| 1917-05-21 | Fannie F. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. & Lula | Bartle, Cuba | Olo, Bertha; Floyd and George go west; Marshall Field |
| 1917-05-22 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Howard, money, Floyd, Montana, Anson, lonesome |
| 1917-07-15 | Fannie F. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Cuba settled; Anson proposition; tractor; bank loan |
| 1917-07-27 | Floyd W. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Hand-sharpen plow; “first time in life so near charity”; prefers Cuba |
| 1917-08-08 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Detroit, MI | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Would not send boys to Europe; Floyd better; Montana 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| 1917-09-07 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Detroit, MI | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Cook and carpenter; Cuba for winter?; feels she is a burden |
| 1917-09-17 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Weak and depressed; Almeda Clark; target factory; Bartle graves |
| 1917-10-14 | Floyd W. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | 175 acres sown; 12×14 shack; Emerson tractor; wants Cuba |
| 1917-11-13 | George F. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. & Walter E. | Bartle, Cuba | Wheat, Anson, machine farming, tractor, flax |
| 1917-12-03 | Floyd W. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Rented rooms; 180 acres of wheat; “Cuba best climate for me” |
| 1917-12-10 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Two rooms; ice on the windows; Allen with Mrs. Clark |
| 1917-12-15 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | One slice of bread; baby Allen the only one with milk |
| 1918-01-13 | Floyd W. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Laid off; need $100; Floyd and Charlotte want Cuba |
| 1918-01-27 | Floyd W. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Idle; $100 a month to live; Olo throwing cold water |
| 1918-02-25 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. & Lula | Bartle, Cuba | Bertha, food prices, Almeda Clark, Clarence |
| 1918-02-25 | Floyd W. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Banking, Bertha tuition, plans for a two-story house |
| 1918-03-19 | Floyd W. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. & Floyd H. | Bartle, Cuba | Anson asks Floyd to boss the new house |
| 1918-04-19 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Weather, Red Cross social, scenery |
| 1918-04-19 | Floyd W. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | 12×14 shack “quite cozy”; wheat looks good |
| 1918-04-30 | John A. Lewis | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Tithe; Christian Catholic Apostolic Church |
| 1918-05-27 | Floyd W. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Prairie dogs; 16×32 shack for George; house to be 26×26 |
| 1918-12-08 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Flu has left; still in the shack; Bertha likes Billings |
| 1919-02-25 | George F. Crosby | Billings, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Olo dead; Lois flu and pneumonia; Floyd sick — pain in stomach |
| 1919-04-14 | Fannie F. McCleskey | Billings, MT | Brothers | Floyd’s deathbed; buried at Eastman Cemetery in a dark gray casket | |
| 1919-04-15 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Papa’s spirit gone before he arrived; two years since Cuba |
| 1919-05-22 | Charlotte R. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Lonely without Papa; George needs her; Floyd planned Cuba next fall |
| 1921-05-28 | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Crosby siblings | Estate settlement papers | |
| 1930-01-28 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Flu and pleurisy; Ariel and Allen camping in Wheaton |
| 1931-08-13 | Clarence W. Crosby | Libertyville, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Water Service Company; Ariel in the office; Allen at home |
| 1933-08-14 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Cuban uprisings; “had I left after Lewis was born” |
| 1933-10-25 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Chief joy is helping incurables |
| 1933-12-28 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Brothers & sisters | No car, no business, no money; Allen out of hotel work | |
| 1933-12-29 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Expelled from church; “Allen is a great big fine lad” |
| 1934-03-31 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Long family letter: Cuba, climate, release of claims |
| 1934-10-24 | Clarence W. Crosby | Zion, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Allen on a bakery route of his own |
| 1938-11-25 | Clarence W. Crosby | Chicago, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | 22nd anniversary of Teresa’s passing; Allen married a year |
| 1939-02-08 | Clarence W. Crosby | Chicago, IL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Supper with Allen and Pauline in Waukegan |
| 1943-05-13 | Ruth Gottschalk | Johnson City, TN | Fannie McCleskey | Sheffield, AL | Clarence dying; diet of juices; Joe came in the night |
| 1943-05-14 | Fannie F. McCleskey | Sheffield, AL | Jesse N. Crosby | Bartle, Cuba | Clarence in very bad condition; burial talk |
| 1959-12-23 | George F. Crosby | Toluca, MT | Jesse N. Crosby | Gainesville, FL | Tractor ditching; Minnie operation; Christmas with Eileen |
50 of these letters are on this site as PDFs. Other letters listed on the old page were not copied here if the file would not come down, or if they were only a line in the index. Nothing below points back to the old domain.