Bio of ZONNE, Floris E. (b.1868 d.1918), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical

Vol II, pg 462-465
FLORIS E. ZONNE
The life story of Floris E. Zonne is the record of a man who combined energy and
industry in business affairs with earnest, conscientious work and
straightforward dealing and he won popularity as manager of the Andrews Hotel,
of which he had charge for several years prior to his death, which occurred May
23, 1918.
Floris E. Zonne was born in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, on the 3d of October 1868, a
son or Ary and Eliza (Rensis) Zonne. The father, a successful farmer, was a
native of Holland and was a son of Rev. Peter Zonne a Dutch Reformed minister,
who crossed the Atlantic with his family in 1847, settling first at Milwaukee,
where he established the first Dutch Reformed church in that section of the
United States. He later removed to Cedar Grove. Wisconsin, where he purchased a
large tract of land which he sold to the members of the colony that he had
founded, and before his death he gave a deed to all of his parishioners who had
invested in the land of the colony.
In the schools of his native town F. E. Zonne pursued his education and when a
young man of twenty-three years came to Minneapolis, arriving in 1891. Here for
a time he was connected with the theatrical business, becoming treasurer of the
Metropolitan theatre. In 1907 he entered upon active connection with hotel
manage­ment as steward at the Nicollet Hotel and in the following year became
one of the proprietors thereof, continuing active in the management and control
of the hotel for five years. In 1911 he assisted in organizing the Andrews Hotel
Company and from that time forward until his death was its capable and popular
manager. He was very prominent in hotel circles and his generous disposition,
his kindly spirit and his uniform courtesy won him the warm respect and
friendship of all with whom he came into contact.
In the year 1901 Mr. Zonne was married to Miss Edith G. Page, a daughter of
William P. and Dora B. (Smith) Page of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The children
of Mr. Zonne are Edyth and Edmund F. A stepson, Lieutenant Charles S. Zonne, was
a student at the Quartermaster School at Jacksonville, Florida, and was there
during the World war and afterward was graduated from the Fort Snelling
Officers' Training Camp.
Mr. Zonne had membership in the Civic & Commerce Association and took a most
active and helpful part in its work. He was ever a loyal follower of Masonic
teachings, having membership in the blue lodge, and he was also identified with
the Elks lodge and with various leading clubs of Minneapolis, including the
Minneapolis Athletic Club, the Commercial Club, the Minneapolis Club, the Golden
Valley Club and the Interlachen Club. The last winter of his life was passed in
Florida in the hope of benefiting his health, but he passed away May 23, 1918.
Under the caption "A Real Loss" a hotel magazine wrote of him as follows: "In
the death of F. E. Zonne, the hotel fraternity has lost one of its brightest
lights and most earnest workers. Mr. Zonne was a man in every sense of the
word-he was honest. clean-cut, straightforward and an earnest, conscientious
worker for the best inter­ests of the business. He had the love and admiration
of those who knew him and the respect of those who differed with him on matters
of public policy. He was a power for good, not only in the hotel fraternity, but
in the community where he resided. His departure has left an aching void which
will be hard to fill." In another magazine appeared the following: "Not the
hotel fraternity in Minne­apolis and Minnesota alone, but hoteldom throughout
the United States, suffered a severe blow when death called F. E. Zonne from the
management of the Hotel Andrews in Minneapolis. Still a comparatively young man,
being only fifty years of age, it may be assumed that his death was due in no
small measure to the manner in which he had performed every duty which devolved
upon him, and to his refusal to limit himself to what most men would consider a
full allotment of work for even the most energetic individual. * * * He was as
winning in his personality as able in his business activities, and many
instances might be cited to show the human side of the man. His long illness did
not serve to alter that cheerful disposition which was always one of the
characteristics of Mr. Zonne, and those inti­mate friends who knew that he was
fighting a desperate battle against death when he made his trip to Florida, and
who had hoped that with the shifting of the battle field he would be able to
obtain the mastery, were sadly shocked when the news of his passing came."
On the 21st of October, 1921, Mrs. Zonne became the wife of E. C. Kischel,
treasurer of the Northwestern Glass Company.