A very minor Fortean, indeed. L.C. Botsford was listed in the first issue of the Fortean Society Magazine as a regional correspondent.
As best as I can figure, the L.C. Botsford in this case was Laurence C. Botsford, born in Pennsylvania in 1897. In 1920, he called Akron, Ohio, home and was a purchasing agent for Goodrich Rubber. According to the U.S. census, the 23-year-old Botsford was a boarder, living with four others who worked for the same company. He married Grace Tong in 1922. The following year, Printer’s Ink listed him as leaving his job as a sales analyst for the Miller Rubber Company to become business manager and assistant to the editor of ‘The Mailbag,’ a journal about direct-mail advertising.
Sometime in the 1920s, Botsford’s marriage ended. His subsequent marriage license said that Grace had died; however, the 1930 census had her alive, in Cleveland, and divorced.
Also according to the same census, Botsford took a new wife, the much younger Mildred (she was 20). They had a child, not yet a year old, Edward A. Botsford, presumably named after Laurence’s father, Edward H. Botsford, who was then living with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in East Cleveland. This was the second marriage for the younger Botsford, his first wife having died. Laurence—or Lawrence, as it was sometimes styled—was an advertising manager. Likely it was through advertising that Botsford came to know Thayer, as Thayer went into advertising in 1926.
In 1936, a year before Thayer restarted the Fortean Society, Laurence and Mildred divorced; she took Edward and moved to California. On 3 August 1937, a month before the debut of the Fortean Society magazine, Laurence married Lillian Layton, a divorced stenographer. It was a short marriage.
Laurence Calvin Botsford died in 1938. His only recorded connection with the Fortean Society was that listing in the first magazine.
As best as I can figure, the L.C. Botsford in this case was Laurence C. Botsford, born in Pennsylvania in 1897. In 1920, he called Akron, Ohio, home and was a purchasing agent for Goodrich Rubber. According to the U.S. census, the 23-year-old Botsford was a boarder, living with four others who worked for the same company. He married Grace Tong in 1922. The following year, Printer’s Ink listed him as leaving his job as a sales analyst for the Miller Rubber Company to become business manager and assistant to the editor of ‘The Mailbag,’ a journal about direct-mail advertising.
Sometime in the 1920s, Botsford’s marriage ended. His subsequent marriage license said that Grace had died; however, the 1930 census had her alive, in Cleveland, and divorced.
Also according to the same census, Botsford took a new wife, the much younger Mildred (she was 20). They had a child, not yet a year old, Edward A. Botsford, presumably named after Laurence’s father, Edward H. Botsford, who was then living with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in East Cleveland. This was the second marriage for the younger Botsford, his first wife having died. Laurence—or Lawrence, as it was sometimes styled—was an advertising manager. Likely it was through advertising that Botsford came to know Thayer, as Thayer went into advertising in 1926.
In 1936, a year before Thayer restarted the Fortean Society, Laurence and Mildred divorced; she took Edward and moved to California. On 3 August 1937, a month before the debut of the Fortean Society magazine, Laurence married Lillian Layton, a divorced stenographer. It was a short marriage.
Laurence Calvin Botsford died in 1938. His only recorded connection with the Fortean Society was that listing in the first magazine.
