Edwin A. Ekdahl

Anybody know what the 'A' stands for?

Sorry Ian... have tried to track this down for you, but no success.

I just found an FBI document in my files, concerning Dewey Ekdahl, the only son of Edwin Albert & Rasmine Ekdahl. It's apparently WCD 165 p. 2

Cheers!!

Well done!

Richard Gilbride wrote:I just found an FBI document in my files, concerning Dewey Ekdahl, the only son of Edwin Albert & Rasmine Ekdahl. It's apparently WCD 165 p. 2

Cheers!!

Many thanks Richard - well found!!!

That pretty much blows a theory of mine out of the water then - I was wondering if "Alek Hidell" was an anagram or, perhaps, just made up of the letters from Ekdahl's name. Seems that the majority of the letters are used but...??? Just another one of those off-the-wall thoughts I have now and again...

Actually, my own interest in Ekdahl concerns his living (and dying?- been so long I can't recall) in the Boston district of Somerville. I went to grades 1 & 2 there, and hope to someday check into any Ekdahl family records. That idea is probably a couple of years away, as I've a couple more pertinent items on my agenda.

Richard Gilbride wrote:Actually, my own interest in Ekdahl concerns his living (and dying?- been so long I can't recall) in the Boston district of Somerville. I went to grades 1 & 2 there, and hope to someday check into any Ekdahl family records. That idea is probably a couple of years away, as I've a couple more pertinent items on my agenda.

Funny you should say that Richard. I've been sent some information which I'll be adding to this thread over the weekend.

How certain are you about Boston?

I received the following email from a lurker:

I think this information is potentially very important.

Someone on your website inquired about Edwin A Ekdahl. Perhaps you could pass this on, or use it as you wish.

"A" stands for Albert.

Searching "Ekdahl" at Mary Ferrell's database reveals some important biographical details about Edwin Ekdahl -- namely, he was from Boston, had a sister named Elvira, was married to a woman named Rasmine, and died "living alone" in New York City on 26 Jan, 1953.

Going to Ancestry.com and doing a few searches for Edwin Ekdahl reveals numerous documents about one Edwin Albert Ekdahl, born in Boston on 26 Sep, 1895, who had a sister named Elvira and a wife named Rasmine. A definite match.

Other interesting information about Edwin Albert Ekdahl:

Since he died in NYC on 26 Jan, 1953, it follows that he was living there AT THE SAME TIME that Marguerite and LHO were there. The question is, did Ekdahl and the Oswalds continue to interact with each other in any way? Possibly. Looking at Myrtle Evans' WC testimony, She says that Ekdahl was the reason that Marguerite went to New York. Maybe she's confused, or maybe she's telling us something important.

Ekdahl's height in various passport and passenger docs is stated to be 5-10, 5-10 1/2, or 5-11 -- not "over 6 feet tall" as is stated in several places.

He was a graduate of MIT, engineering, class of 1916.

He was a US Navy veteran, WWI vintage.

He spent many years living in China (Shanghai and Tsingtao) during the 1920s and 30s.

I'm depending completely on memeory on this, but as I recall I read about Ekdahl living in Somerville from "Harvey & Lee"- that was what rang my bell, since I'd gone to elementary school there. And, I'm fairly sure that the (electrical?) engineering company that employed him was based in Boston.



And I seem to remember Marguerite & Lee took a trip to Boston somewhere about 1948/49.



This might be an interesting research adventure for someone living near there, as I won't have time for it for quite a while. It may really help shed some light on the Harvey & Lee conundrum, and might even turn up something regarding who Edwin A. Ekdahl really was.

Just checked up, and can't find my source for Ekdahl living in Somerville. But I'm pretty darn sure, since saying he's from Boston is a much larger problem as far as tracking him down, and I distinctly remember learning he had lived there.



Colloquially, it's the same thing as Boston, even though it's incorporated as a separate city. It's on the border with Cambridge. I got my driver's license there, and experimented with a return to city life in the summer of 1992 and lived in part of "Slumerville". By the end of that summer I was on a train for Montana...



This is from "Harvey & Lee": Edwin Ekdahl was born in the autumn of 1887. He was originally from Boston, and when he met Marguerite in 1942 he was working in New Orleans for the New York City-based Ebasco Services. He had separated from his wife Rasmine in 1941. Their one son, Dewey, lived with Rasmine in Boston.



The FBI opened a file on Edwin Ekdahl that began with "116", which indicated that Ekdahl had applied for employment with the Department of Energy.



In 1943, because of Edwin's recent heart attack, Ekdahl's sister came down from Boston to help care for him and she met Marguerite. Ekdahl had a generous expense account and a reported salary of $1000/month.



John Pic recalled in his testimony that Ekdahl was an electrical engineer.



In July 1945 Ekdahl drove to Boston w/ Marguerite & Lee in order to visit family (WCH XI p. 24).



*



It's a guess as to when he moved to NYC, but property records at Somerville City Hall might show an Ekdahl living in town in the 1920's, 30's, or 40's. And his age indicates he went to one of the local Boston colleges from 1916-1920. It is likely he started work in Boston and Boston Edison would be a place to look into that. Also the Department of Motor Vehicles might have something. His profile strikes me as someone who might have belonged to a fraternal order such as Knights of Columbus; their HQ in Union Square would be one place to inquire.

Richard,

Welcome back!

I have confirmed Ekdahl died in NY in Jan, 1953, which means he was in that city at the same time as Marguerite and Lee.

There is more, but it might be premature to lay it out just yet.

I want to apologize too, for the way Lifton has dragged your work into a shit-fight at the Ed Forum which has nothing to do with you personally.

The up side is, if he hasn't scrapped the notion of publishing his Oswald book, he'll wish he had. It won't be good for his self-esteem to see it in Walmart discount bins.

Extremely interesting to learn that Edwin was in NYC simultaneously with Marguerite & Lee. If he graduated MIT in 1916, that makes him 18 2/3 years old at the time. I'm sure they'll be a lot more notable stuff about him that we'll learn.



thanks on defending me regarding David Lifton's ridiculing of my Depository research. I'm only aware of what I read on the Bin Laden rehash that turned into a long EdForum post. I'm not particularly concerned with what he thinks, anyways. These days there's an extra bounce in my step, since Truly's been certifiably roped into the plot. I look at it as corroboration for the main thrust of "The Elevator Escape Theory", that 6th-floor snipers made their escape via the freight elevators, with help from the warehouse workers.



If Mr. Lifton wishes to ridicule me regarding my choice of the identity of the sniper's nest shooter (Eddie Piper), I can't do anything about that. He should slowly re-read both Depository essays and make constructive suggestions. His attacks reflect poorly on his personality. I'm still intellectually satisfied with my identity choice, even though the choice is a bit of a stunner at first.

Ekdahl graduated in 1916 at age 28. I must have had a mental glitch. It was probably a masters or PhD. Found some preliminary info regarding Ebasco- Electric Bond And Share Company. They did primarily civil engineering projects, and are worldwide. Apparently they designed the 1939 NYC World's Fair. At one point in time they had an office at Two World Trade Center. Ebasco was acquired by Raytheon in the 1990's.

Richard Gilbride wrote:
Extremely interesting to learn that Edwin was in NYC simultaneously with Marguerite & Lee. If he graduated MIT in 1916, that makes him 18 2/3 years old at the time.

Richard, he was born in 1895, so was 21 give or take, when he graduated.

I'm sure they'll be a lot more notable stuff about him that we'll learn.

Currently trying to pin down the circumstances of his knowing Fred Korth. I don't think he plucked his name out of the phone book. All part of following some hunches.

thanks on defending me regarding David Lifton's ridiculing of my Depository research. I'm only aware of what I read on the Bin Laden rehash that turned into a long EdForum post. I'm not particularly concerned with what he thinks, anyways. These days there's an extra bounce in my step, since Truly's been certifiably roped into the plot. I look at it as corroboration for the main thrust of "The Elevator Escape Theory", that 6th-floor snipers made their escape via the freight elevators, with help from the warehouse workers.

I think you do great work. You know what my main point of disagreement is regarding Piper, but that just comes down a different interpretation of the same data.

If Mr. Lifton wishes to ridicule me regarding my choice of the identity of the sniper's nest shooter (Eddie Piper), I can't do anything about that. He should slowly re-read both Depository essays and make constructive suggestions. His attacks reflect poorly on his personality. I'm still intellectually satisfied with my identity choice, even though the choice is a bit of a stunner at first.

It's okay. Karma is at work.

Nearly every time he pokes his head up, he makes a total idiot of himself.

You know I respect your different interpretation regarding Eddie Piper. I think we both agree he was "the elderly Negro" seen by Arnold Rowland. A bit of a shame that when I advertised the Potemkin Village essay on Lancer, there were no replies. It would have been good to analyse the ideas presented- even were I to get raked over the coals. Presently it's not a good time for a discussion like that- I'm only able to respond haphazardly via the library computer.



I was initially fascinated by Best Evidence when it came out, but saw it slowly beaten to a pulp. Even Gerald Posner showed David Lifton up, by informing us that the Trauma Room One casket was hermetically sealed. I have little understanding as to why Lifton continues to posit a coffin-shell-game hypothesis, and interpret "Surgery to the head area" as anything other then an amazement question from a completely puzzled Dr. Humes- who saw essentially the same exploded top-skull we see today in autopsy photos F6 & F7. It seems to me plain & simple that JFK's skull broke apart during 4+ hours of transport to Bethesda.



But Mr. Lifton is a distraction, meaning his "I know best" personality & bullying of others, along the road to truth-seeking research & the presentation of such. Somewhere sometime ago he went off the tracks as far as rational hypothesizing (which includes trying to defeat one's own hypotheses)- and that's unfortunate, because he deserves lasting credit for having opened up & made the pioneering forays into the Pandora's Box of the medical evidence. And it's extra-unfortunate that he persists in marketing himself as the world's leading expert on the JFK assassination.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=10548&relPageId=2

More on Ekdahl... when he died in NYC as an employee of the Ebasco, NYC - his only address was 1095 Commonwealth in Newton MASS.

Next of kin in 1953 was listed as his sister Elvira... (her address was 1095 Commonwealth)

No idea where he worked from 1943 to 1953 and only had his SS# for additional ID.

Further into the report we find a letter from Oswald to John ABT at the Gus Hall defense team regarding photographic work... both positive to negative and vice versa... http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=10548&relPageId=12

Hmmm...seeing this post made me revisit my thoughts on Alek Hidell - using letters from the name Edwin Albert Ekdahl, the name "Alek Hidel" can be made - was it ever spelled with just one "L" at the end of "Hidell"?

By some accounts, it seemed that Oswald became very close to Ekdahl and liked him a lot, regarding him as more of a father than anyone else so I'm just wondering if, as seems may have been his wont to play with codes and encryptions, he played around with the letters to make a new name out of Ekdahl's name in some form of some deference to him?

ianlloyd wrote:Hmmm...seeing this post made me revisit my thoughts on Alek Hidell - using letters from the name Edwin Albert Ekdahl, the name "Alek Hidel" can be made - was it ever spelled with just one "L" at the end of "Hidell"?

By some accounts, it seemed that Oswald became very close to Ekdahl and liked him a lot, regarding him as more of a father than anyone else so I'm just wondering if, as seems may have been his wont to play with codes and encryptions, he played around with the letters to make a new name out of Ekdahl's name in some form of some deference to him?

Richard Case Nagell claimed Oswald use the alias "Albert Hidel" fwiw.