Update 7/28/22 to original post (7/12/22)
Original post at below link.
“What’s In a Name? A Search for the Identity of Serial Killer Dr. George Hodel’s First Born Child.
Hi Steve,
I am (name deleted for privacy.) Someone from Ancestry.com emailed me your latest blog regarding the search for your possible half-sister “Folly”. George Bishop Pulsifer was my paternal grandfather. Unfortunately, I never got to meet or know him. Five years ago, at the age of 62, I found out the man that brought me up was not my biological father! My mom is living today and had confessed to this affair with George Bishop Pulsifer’s son (name deleted) back in 1953. My biological father (name deleted) was murdered at the age of forty and George died in 1967 and his wife (my paternal grandmother) passed in 1997. So, my chances of meeting my biological parents and grandparents were lost.
My story is long but, because of DNA through Ancestry.com and tests for an ill sister, I finally get some answers. Anyhow, getting back to your search, I know through two genealogy websites I subscribe to, the free genealogy site FamilySearch.org and a couple of newspaper websites, I have found biological cousins and lots of information to fill in some gaps regarding my family. I found on FamilySearch.org a marriage license for a George B. Pulsifer age 21 from Maine and living in Los Angeles to a Hazel Rosetta Stevens age 23 also from Maine and residing in Los Angeles dated March 24, 1923. I know my grandfather was in Los Angeles attending school and working as a photographer after his Navy service around 1921 and came back to Maine in 1925. I asked my newly found paternal cousins if George had been married before my grandmother ___ and no one seemed to be able to answer me. There are other George B. Pulsifer’s out there but not with the same middle name “Bishop”. In my discoveries, there were two George B. Pulsifer’s in Maine and two in the Boston area. My grandfather moved from Maine to Norwood, Massachusetts in 1950s. I’ve had to really scrutinize any information I’ve found. I actually thought I might have had another aunt or uncle out there through George Bishop Pulsifer. If your theory is correct, that changes everything.
I’ve researched Hazel Rosetta Stevens and she did indeed move back to Maine and remarried. I can dig out that information for you later if you wish. Maybe “Roberta” is actually “Rosetta”? My family was visiting and staying with me these last few weeks and I watch my grandkids today. I’m willing to help out in any way possible in your search. I can surely relate to how you feel regarding this matter. I’ll attach a screenshot of this Marriage License I found in a separate email.
Happy Searching,
(name deleted)
_________________________________________________________
Thank you so much _____for the above information!
So, was teenager George Hodel’s “fling” with the “older woman” in fact Hazel Rosetta Stevens? (As ____ points out “Rosetta instead of Roberta”?) Was she my half-sister?
Unquestionably, a lot of the pieces appear to fit. She was not a professor’s wife, but rather the wife of his good friend and co-editor on George’s home, Fantasia Magazine. As seven years his senior, Hazel was definitely, “an older woman.” Assuming the “affair” occurred during her courtship, or after her marriage to G.Bishop Pulsifer (Married in Los Angeles on March 24, 1923) then Hazel would have been age 23 and George just 16.
Was the pregnancy the reason that broke up her marriage and caused her to go East and have the child?
This age difference would definitely qualify in her attributed statement, when George sought her out back East, “Go away George. This has been a terrible mistake. You’re just a child. Get out of my life.”
1923 Los Angeles Marriage Certificate G. Bishop Pulsifer to Hazel Rosetta Stevens
Stay tuned. I’m sure there is a lot more to come.
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