Marguerite and Lee in Boston and related matters

According to Robert Oswald's testimony

Mr. OSWALD. The first year that we attended there, Mr. Ekdahl was on the road quite a bit. And they had during the winter of 1945 gone to Boston, where they stayed, I would say, for approximately 6 months. I understand Mr. Ekdahl had been married and had a son by a prior marriage, and they had lived together, all of them--Lee, my mother, Mr. Ekdahl, and his son--in Boston. But that he was on the road quite a bit. And I recall a picture of mother and Lee in Arizona. 

The way I read the above is that for 6 months in 1945 Edwin, Marguerite and Lee were based in Boston, but were traveling constantly to other places during this time period. While in Bostn, they had Dewey staying with them.

During Marguerite's 5th session before the commission, she does talk about the traveling she and Lee did with Mr Ekdahl, but at no time does she ever say anything about moving to be based in Boston for 6 months.

Looking at Tracy Parnell's timeline, it does seem possible that this did happen. Robert recalled the move as being in the winter of 1945. 

June, 1944: John and Robert leave Bethlehem and join the family on Victor Street.
 
February, 1945: Marguerite tries unsuccessfully to return John and Robert to Bethlehem.
 
May 7, 1945: Marguerite marries Edwin A. Ekdahl.
 
September, 1945: John and Robert are placed in the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy
in Mississippi.
 
Fall, 1945: The Ekdahls move to Granbury Road in Benbrook, a Fort Worth suburb.

I had always assumed that the marriage had taken place in Texas, but if Robert is correct, it happened in Boston or some other city or town they visited. Whatever the case, if this timeline is anything to go by, the 6 months in Boston commencing in the winter of 1945 looks more than possible.

But then we look at the Pic testimony, and we have much better support for a temporary move to Boston for Marguerite and Lee - except it commences in the Fall of 1945. Pic however dos confirm it is to visit Ekdahl's family:

Mr. JENNER - I see. When you came around to the fall of 1945, however, you entered the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy? 
Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; in fact, the trip to Chamberlain-Hunt was a side trip because Mr. Ekdahl, my mother, and Lee were on their way to Boston to visit his folks. 
And so they dropped us off at the school and then proceeded to Boston. 
Mr. JENNER - Was that a motor trip? 
Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; it was in a 1938 Buick. 
Mr. JENNER - You remained at Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy except for summer vacation, or something of that nature, for how long? 
Mr. PIC - Well, sir, you Just want a blanket statement. I have got a whole bunch of goodies while I was at Chamberlain-Hunt. 
Mr. JENNER - All right. Go ahead. 
Mr. PIC - During Christmas vacation of 1945 Robert and I received money to go home for the Christmas holidays. We were to take the train from Vicksburg, Miss., to Shreveport, La. These were instructions and when we arrived at Shreveport, we were to wait for Mr. Ekdahl to pick us up. We arrived and he wasn't there. So I think we waited around, I have an estimate of between 1 and 2 hours, and then he showed up. He then drove us to Fort Worth, Benbrook, Tex., and we had a house about 15 miles below Fort Worth in Benbrook, it was way out. It wasn't the same Benbrook house, it was further. This was a brick house. 
Mr. JENNER - The first house in Benbrook? 
Mr. PIC - Yes, sir. 
Mr. JENNER - Had you known the family had moved to Benbrook, Tex.? 
Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; because we was writing. 


Pic's version is more believable because he is able to tie it to being dropped off in September at the military academy by Ekdahl, Marguerite and Lee on their way to Boston. However, the stay in Boston seems to be no more than 3 months and possibly less. Still, it did apparently happen. And it seems that the marriage was likely in Texas after all.

Which brings us to Dewey who had been born on Dec 17, 1931 in China to Ekdahl's first wife, Rasmina. This would make him 13 (nearly 14) at the time his father brought Lee and Marguerite to Boston.

Funny thing is, Dewey was interviewed by the FBI Dec 6, 1963 and he claimed not to even know the name of his father's second wife or know anything about her. All he could recall was being told by his father that he had remarried. Furthermore he also claimed not to have heard of Lee Oswald until after the assassination. He also seems to indicate he was living in New York and not Boston during this period. It is possible that Ekdahl visited and stayed with his sister in Boston. But that still leaves the issue of why Robert specifically mentions Ekdahl's son as staying with them in Boston.
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10569&relPageId=3&search=%22dewey_ekdahl%22

In looking into this, another issue became apparent - neither his brother-in-law (his sister had died in Feb '63), his son nor even his employer throughout the 40s and 50s - Ebasco - could shed any light on Ekdahl's addresses or the nature of his employment between 1943 and 1953 - the later year being when he returned to New York and died soon thereafter. 
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10509&search=%22dewey_ekdahl%22#relPageId=6&tab=page
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10548&relPageId=3&search=%22edwin_ekdahl%22

It is after the return to Texas that Lee commences school and has Ekdahl listed at his first two schools as the sole parent/guardian.

Apart from Summer vacations, the older boys were kept out of the picture of what was going on at home - ostensibly because Ekdahl traveled for work and the boys needed a stable school life. John started school at four and a half.  For some reason, the WC thought that Lee never commenced school until he was seven, and were so concerned by this, that they tried to find out what the legal requirement was in Texas. However, according to Tracy's timeline, Lee was actually six when enrolled at his first school. 

Mr. JENNER. Yes. He was 8 years old--he was 6 years old when they moved to-the commencement of the military school period, your brother, Lee, was 6 years old? 
Mr. OSWALD. Six years old. 
Mr. JENNER. And that is about the time when you enter elementary school, is it not? 
Mr. OSWALD. That I entered elementary school? 
Mr. JENNER. No---children generally. 
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir.
I don't believe, however, though, that Lee at the age of 6 went to elementary school. 
Mr. JENNER. Would you tell us what the circumstances were in that connection, to the best of your recollection, and now. 
Mr. OSWALD. All right, sir. To the best of my recollection, it was that Mr. Ekdahl was traveling quite a bit, and that mother was traveling with him, and Lee did not attend a school during that year. 
Mr. JENNER. Did Lee travel with them? 
Mr. OSWALD. I believe that he did during that time. 
Mr. JENNER. That is your best recollection? 
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; that is my best recollection. 
Mr. JENNER. You are trying not to speculate. 
Mr. OSWALD. That is correct, sir. 
Mr. McKENZIE. Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.) Mr. McKENZIE. I believe, to my best recollection, that the school age-- commencement age was 7 years old. 
Mr. DULLES. I think what we are trying to get at is what was Lee doing--was he with the mother, was he in some kind of kindergarten?
Do you recall during those 3 years you were in the military academy--where was Lee? 
Representative FORD. When you say the school age, in Texas, you mean the mandatory attendance age? 
Mr. JAWORSKI. That is correct. 
Mr. McKENZIE. Yes, that is what I have reference to. 
Mr. JAWORSKI. I recall, if I may add, at the age of 6, children were normally sent to kindergarten in those days. 
Mr. JENNER. As you have now related it to us, Mr. Oswald, in this period, let's call it the military school period because we have identified the time question--at the commencement Lee was then 6 years old. And as we now learn, normally that would be a kindergarten period.
He was traveling or accompanied his mother, your mother, and Mr. Ekdahl in their travels in connection with Mr. Ekdahl's business, and he was not either in kindergarten or otherwise in school. 
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; I am of this opinion--he was not. 
Mr. JENNER. And that was your information at the time that you and John were attending military school? 
Mr. OSWALD. That would be correct, sir. 
Mr. DULLES. Do you know where he was, and who was taking care of him during that period--if your mother was traveling with Mr. Ekdahl? 
Mr. OSWALD. I believe Lee was going with them, sir, during these travels. I don't recall---other than this one photograph-- at one time they were out in Arizona. I don't recall any other places that they traveled to. I am sure mother, she was writing us quite frequently, John and I, usually just one letter to both of us--any other names or areas that they had traveled during this period. 
Mr. JENNER. Now, may we proceed to the succeeding school period, which would be the year '46-'47. He is now at that time 7 years of age. Your mother and Mr. Ekdahl and Lee were then residing in Benbrook, Tex. 
Mr. OSWALD. Benbrook; yes, sir. 
Mr. JENNER. Did Lee enter elementary school at that time? 
Mr. OSWALD. Yes, sir; he did.
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Representative FORD. Mr. Dulles, may I suggest that we get what the law was in Texas at the time, as to when children mandatorily had to attend school? I think that can be checked out very simply and put in the record. 
Mr. DULLES. Yes. I think that should be in the record. 

So again we have to reassess. It seems possible that both Robert and John are partly right. Ekdahl took Marguerite and Lee to visit his sister in Boston and on the way, dropped John and Robert at the academy. The three returned from Boston to Benbrook and after Lee turned six, he was enrolled at elementary school to satisfy the legal requirement. However, it appears he may never have actually attended, but instead, was travelling around the country with his mother and step-father. 

Just what was so mysterious about Ekkahl's time with Marguerite and the nature of his employment, that neither his surviving family members, nor even his employer, could shed even the smallest of lights on it? 

I will note here for the heck of it that his employer EBASCO was involved in government contract work, probably some of which was of a sensitive nature; that Edwin was an electrical engineer; that the time Edwin was traveling around with Lee and Marguerite coincided with the time that another electrical engineer named Julius Rosenberg was stealing/gathering secrets for the Soviets, and that most of those recruited into that spy ring were also electrical engineers - based in New York where EBASCO was also based.  In fact, Rosenberg lost his job in 1945 after being outed for previous association with the Communist Party. The Rosenbergs were executed in New York on June 19, 1953. Ekdahl dies in New York in January, 1953. 

I will close with this quote concerning the fate of the Rosenbergs:

I offer the opinion that the Rosenbergs’ execution was really all about their refusal to snitch. On the basis of a fifteen-year acquaintance with death row prisoners in Ohio, I can state that the refusal to snitch is one of the highest values of long-term prisoners. It is the essence of the “convict code.” Refusal to snitch earns a prisoner recognition as a “solid convict.” In contrast, the government wanted an unbroken chain of informants who would inform against their colleagues. When confronted by individuals who refused to confess or “deal,” the government decided to send a message to all other potential informants by killing the Rosenbergs.
https://monthlyreview.org/2011/02/01/is-there-anything-more-to-say-about-the-rosenberg-case/
 
History tells us that the fate of informants is either:

Complete and lasting anonimity 
Protection from prosecution
Prosecution with comparative leniency and/or a lessening of charges
Death by suicide
Death by murder

According to Robert Oswald's testimony

Mr. OSWALD. The first year that we attended there, Mr. Ekdahl was on the road quite a bit. And they had during the winter of 1945 gone to Boston, where they stayed, I would say, for approximately 6 months. I understand Mr. Ekdahl had been married and had a son by a prior marriage, and they had lived together, all of them--Lee, my mother, Mr. Ekdahl, and his son--in Boston. But that he was on the road quite a bit. And I recall a picture of mother and Lee in Arizona. 


According to John


Mr. JENNER - I see. When you came around to the fall of 1945, however, you entered the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy? 
Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; in fact, the trip to Chamberlain-Hunt was a side trip because Mr. Ekdahl, my mother, and Lee were on their way to Boston to visit his folks. 
And so they dropped us off at the school and then proceeded to Boston. 



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But here is what Dewey Ekdahl told the FBI





So... Robert and John both claim Marguerite and Lee were taken to Boston by Ekdahl and stayed with members of his family. Ekdahl's son is mentioned as staying with them in Boston.

Note Rasmina died in May, 1961 and that it is very likely that Dewey was living with her at the time of this visit during 1945/46 as he was only 14 at that time.

In any case, he goes a whole different story.

Dewey says his father separated from his mother in 1942 and went to Fort Forth - no mention of New Orleans. He also says his father returned east periodically and that he told him on one such visit that he had remarried, But Dewy denies ever knowing the name of the new wife - let alone ever meeting her - or her son. 

He also denied that Marguerite received any money from Ekdahl or his will. Yet he was working only 8 miles from where she was living - and according to Marguerite's friend, Myrtle Evans, Ekdahl was the reason she had gone to New York. I suspect the FBI wanted to know about money because Marguerite was suddenly able to hire a house-cleaner.

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