James Wesley Deese was born on May 23, 1896, in Stanly County, North Carolina. Deese was a farmer in Albemarle, North Carolina, when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. He seems to have been in the service for only three days, having enlisted on November 11, 1918, and discharged on November 13. Deese died in Concord (Stanly County) on December 3, 1978.