John Kowalski

33 minutes ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

If so, then the bizarre wording on both of their obituaries becomes much more understandable - they really were husband and wife all along.

That makes sense, they probably never divorced. When Edwin married Marguerite on May 5, 1945 he became a bigamist.

Jim and Paul:

Found Bentley's will. Probate Court will not email it to me but will send it by mail. Will upload it when received.

41 minutes ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

Can you find a divorce record for Edwin and Rasmina? 

Did research on Ekdahl years ago. Did not find his divorce record. His WWII draft registration card states that he is living with Rasmina at 109 First Ave in Nyak. The draft card is not dated but at the bottom it says D.S.S. Form 1 Revised 4-1-42. He says his age is 46 and was born on September 26, 1895, which suggests that he signed it sometime before his 47th birthday in 1942.

Do not know the name of the woman that he had an affair with but John A in one of his podcasts mentioned that Marguerite caught Ekdahl with a woman.

18 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

(I cannot find a divorce record from Rosmina. Nor could the FBI, apparently. Rosmina seemingly vanished.)

Paul:

She died in Nyak, New York on May 31, 1961.

12 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Successfully searching for Emil or Grace Gardos in Manhattan 1945 telephone directory:

Thank you Jim.

On 3/8/2024 at 12:18 AM, Sandy Larsen said:

Hidell appears to be an alternate spelling of the German surname Heidel. People sometimes do change the spelling of their name, for various reasons, when they move to a country that speaks another language.

Found a reference to a Hidell name variant at the Black Vault website. The person's name is Joseph Hydell.

Another person with a name variant is Fred Blair. His grandfather's name is Andrew Blais and he was born In Quebec. When they moved to the US their name changed to Blair.

After reading about the Tunheim document that suggests that Marguerite Oswald may have had some association with Nazis during WWII, I did some research on right wing activities in that area and found a FBI document regarding Robert Edward Edmonson who was described as sympathetic towards Germany and who received donations from many people, one of which was Joseph Hydell.

https://archive.org/details/Hydell

19 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

The site has a 14 day free trial, but I used up mine a couple of years ago to get access to its newspaper database.

Try your local library, they could have a subscription to Ancestry that you can use for free. My local library has one and the archives has one a as well.

The Mormons also have a genealogy website and its free.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/?cid=PC-00038602&keyword=family history lds&gad_source=1

2 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Paul J. is apparently working on researching Elizabeth Bentley’s NYC contacts in the 1940s and is hoping for some information within a couple of weeks.

I’m helping John K. with his continuing work to locate Mrs. Tippit’s original notes, which may not be as impossible as it sounds, and I’m also going to try contacting the NYU library early next week to see what can be learned from the Weinstock Papers without actually traveling to NYC.  

Jim:

If Bentley had a will it could provide the names of people she knew. It may also mention if she left her personal papers with someone or to a library or archive. If she did leave her papers with someone, they would be invaluable to our research.

NYU library should have a copying service for people who can't visit the library. They may also have a list of researchers who will copy documents for a fee. Can you let me know what they tell you about it. 

On 3/6/2024 at 3:48 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

Here are some of the NYU Library document collections covering the period of interest:

Jim:

Had a look at the library document,

Series I: Personal, may have information about personal contacts that could mention the Blairs and maybe someone they knew who was taking care of a young boy

Series II: Correspondence, Correspondence, 1932-1947, inclusive, may mention Bentley

Series VII: Photographs, 1920s-1980s, inclusive, one of the boxes has photographs for 1940-1950

8 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

As to Elizabeth Bentley herself, while I hope to have a much more definitive answer in a few weeks, for now I believe she was exactly what the narrative has said she was: a genuine communist in the 1930's who then turned into an FBI informant in 1945. 

Paul:

Are you doing research on Bentley, if yes what sources will you be reviewing?

On 3/5/2024 at 11:36 AM, Paul Jolliffe said:

(Has anyone ever found a NYC address at anytime for Fred Blair? It is entirely plausible that Blair lived at 217 E. 86th with Grace and Emil Gardos, but left no record. He was probably there, but has anyone found any evidence of his presence in NYC?)

Has anyone checked the NYC city directory?

Post deleted by author.

On 3/2/2024 at 7:31 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

I think a program encompassing two Lee Harvey Oswalds could have started even before the creation of the CIA. 

 

 

When the program was started, do you think that there may have been other young boys who were brought into into it? Given that this was a long term program, the possibility of something happening to either Lee or Harvey before they could be sent abroad could have prompted them to find other young boys who looked similar and who could participate in the same program.

On 3/2/2024 at 7:31 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

Please let me know how I can help with your efforts to locate Mrs. Tippit’s notes and/or descendants.  

Found a people search website that had possible telephone numbers for her daughter and granddaughters. Called some of these numbers today and some were disconnected. A few had voicemail so I left a message to call me back. Left a message with the probate court as well about obtaining a copy of her will. The will should have information about her daughter,granddaughters and other relatives that can be used to contact them. 

Did some Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter searches as well but did not find anything.

How far are you from Westport or do you know anyone who lives near there? Local contacts can expedite the search for her daughter and granddaughters.

6 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

John Butler, we know from the testimony of Nelson Delgado that "Oswald" apparently knew at least some Yiddish! Whether or not "Oswald" was indeed the biological son of the Gardos parents (and we now in 2024 know for a fact he was NOT their biological son), we are certain there must have been some connection between them, however brief. If there are any surviving elementary school records for either little John Gardos (or "Oswald"), the Ramaz School archives (if they exist) are a good place to start..

Ramaz website describes the school as Orthodox. Why would communists send their child and/or Oswald to a religious school?

6 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

Can anyone here get ahold of a copy of the 1962 edition of "Circus Maximus"?

Why do you want the 1962 edition?

5 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

The most likely conduit for such a similarity would be Edwin Ekdahl to his lawyer (the very well connected Fred Korth, Washington power-broker and future Secretary of the Navy) to someone that Korth knew who would want to take advantage of that physical similarity. 

Paul:

Have you done any research on the Boston trip? Apparently Ekdahl, Margaret Oswald and Lee when to Boston for 6 months. It is also interesting that Ekdahl's son, Dewey, did not know where his father lived for 3 years, and it was during this time period that the Boston trip was supposed to have taken place.

6 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Maybe Oswald was removed from the custody of Emil Gardos during one of his legal battles. Maybe when he was deported. FBI didn't know what to do with him, but CIA said hmm, we have some ideas for a Russian speaking kid with no known relatives!

That is a very interesting theory.

Does anyone know why Communists would be taking care of Oswald, given that he was been prepared for some future role in an intelligence operation?

On 2/25/2024 at 6:17 PM, John Kowalski said:

Called one of her granddaughters today, she did not answer so I left a message. Will keep you updated.

Jim:

Have not heard back from her so I will call another person.

Have contact information for 2 of of 5 people I want to contact. Will need help locating the other 3 people.

3 hours ago, Paul Jolliffe said:

This documentary from 2019 gives a pretty good summary for those us (like me) who may be unfamiliar with the basics of the case. It is not exhaustive, but well worth watching (the entire video is available on YouTube with ads).

Seen it and recommend it to anyone who wants to know what happened to him.

8 minutes ago, Matt Cloud said:

Okay.  Perhaps others here can add something of use.  I cannot.  And, dare I suggest that this is a topic for another thread?  What's the connection to this thread?

My original post was about Bloomfield knowing the Myers who lived in Westport, CT. It is probably just a coincidence that he knew someone who lived close to the Tippits.

23 hours ago, Matt Cloud said:

Louis Mortimer Bloomfield died in 1984. A few years before his death donated 31 boxes of documents to the Library and Archives Canada. This included correspondence with some well-known politicians such as George H. W. Bush. The one condition Bloomfield placed on the donation was that public access to the papers would be restricted for 20 years after his death. However, when researcher, Maurice Phillips, attempted to gain access to these materials in 2004 he found that Bloomfield's widow, Justine Stern Bloomfield Cartier, was still refusing permission for them to be released into the public domain.

Phillips took Library and Archives Canada to court and won his case. The archives opened them to the public on the condition that only files 50 years or older would be released. I began reviewing these files then in 2018 the archives closed them again. I took them into court and won my case and now most of the files are open to the public.

23 hours ago, Matt Cloud said:

A successful lawyer he worked for years at the law firm of Phillips and Vineberg in Montreal. He was also a major stockholder of Permindex, a corporation based in Switzerland.

He was not a stockholder in Permindex. His role was to represent some of its shareholders. In the appendix to a book review I wrote I discuss Bloomfield;s role with CMC. 

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/the-canadian-archives-michele-metta-and-the-latest-on-permindex

23 hours ago, Matt Cloud said:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Office of Strategic Services in 1942. Bloomfield was recruited and given the rank of major. In 1947, the OSS evolved into the Central Intelligence Agency, and Bloomfield continued doing contract work for the new organization.

The only evidence that Bloomfield was involved in intelligence work is his own admission that he did some work in Mexico during WWII.