Notes

Introduction (Patrilineage landing page)

1. Alvin Laubscher’s official birth record does not exist, as his birth pre-dated formal vital records requirements for North Carolina. His birth is recorded in various other vital records—including his death certificate—and in his wife’s family Bible, where she also indicates that “he doesn’t know his father’s people,” both of which confirm that his mother’s husband George was not his biological father.

2. Laubscher-G’Schwind marriage record. 21 Feb 1902. North Carolina State Archives. North Carolina County Marriage Indexes, 1741-2004. Page 24. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

[3]

General information about Red’s life and character came from a 1997 interview and correspondence with his sister, Wilda Mae Dickens. Specific information came from various newspaper reports and vital records listed below.

1. Notes about reconstructing a life through newspaper accounts

Most small-town newspapers—until as recently as the sixties—regularly reported on the daily lives of the people they served, often to an almost intrusively personal degree: Mrs. Smith was shopping in town with her sister today. Mr. Jones brought an elegant bouquet to his mother for her birthday, etc. These days, we self-report on these types of things through social media, but in the heyday of print news, these reports occupied entire pages of the daily paper. For anyone looking to move their family history research beyond the simple collection of vital statistics, these newspaper accounts can be an invaluable resource for creating character sketches that bring a bit more depth to family histories.

Thanks to the efforts of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, researchers have free access to scores of digitized newspapers from all across the state. With the help of this service, I was able to find articles on Red from his birth to his wedding, which helped me form a more complete picture of who he was as a younger man.

"Wonderful birthday celebrations are in store for baby John Ross," began Red's birth announcement in The Pilot, "for he has the same birthday as his great-grandfather Gschwind. . .and his uncle Paul Laubscher." Later issues of the paper would, indeed, record some wonderful triple birthday celebrations, painting a picture of a large, close-knit family of some importance—or at the very least interest—to the community.

In the fall of 1940, I found several accounts of Red's Boy Scout exploits—an overnight camp-out at Aberdeen Lake, second-level scouting tests, a jamboree—evidence of a childhood focused on becoming a person of high moral character and sound judgment. In July of 1944, Red took to heart his old Boy Scout oath of duty "to God and country" and enlisted in the Navy. A few years later, the paper reported on his visit home from the service. Everything about the family seemed frankly unremarkable; there were no splashy front-page scandals to note.

From 1946 - 1949, I couldn't find any accounts of Red, but he reappeared January 20, 1950, in an article describing his wedding ceremony, which had taken place three weeks earlier in Maryland. The details provided in the article raise some questions. Only Lillian's sister Maryann and brother-in-law were in attendance, serving as the matron-of-honor and best man. Lillian wore an aqua "costume" rather than the traditional white gown. The Schotts held a reception for the couple at home. Everything about the ceremony suggests that it was hastily put together, and the urgency surrounding the ceremony, particularly since Lillian had only turned 17 a few weeks before, raises one obvious question: Was Lillian pregnant? If an unplanned pregnancy had pressed the two into marriage, it must have ended in a miscarriage or stillbirth, testing the couple from the beginning. There's no way to know for certain at this point whether they married quickly out of necessity or youthful impatience. The documents provide the details; we infer the rest.

Going forward, I could find only three additional mentions of Red and Lillian in The Pilot: September 26, 1952. Though Lillian and the boys attended a send-off party for John's brother George, who was leaving for the Army, John himself was notably absent. In this same issue, Lillian's brother's death is detailed on the front page. March 6, 1953. All of Alvin and Margaret's children and grandchildren were under the same roof for a family reunion for the first time in nine years the reporter felt worthy of mentioning. May 8, 1953. Lillian and the boys were visiting Alvin and Margaret for a few days. There's no mention of Red, so it's unclear whether Lillian was visiting her in-laws to escape her husband or to get some help with the boys while he was away for work. This is the last time I could find either of them mentioned in the paper, and I've come to believe that this is the point—after Oliver's death, when Red's drinking likely became truly problematic for the family—that the relationship began to unravel. Because Red's father Alvin was such a respected member of the community, I'm inclined to believe that the gossip section of the paper stopped reporting on Alvin's children out of simple respect for him.

Though I hit a wall in the North Carolina papers at 1953, I would have more success locating background information about Red in other papers, including the story of Red’s truck accident, which would lead me to an entirely new understanding of him.

2. Register of Deeds. North Carolina Birth Indexes. Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm. NCVR_B_C068_66001. Vol. 13. Page 565.

3. DD Form 214. First enlistment: 27 June 1944. Honorable discharge 7 June 1946.

4. DD Form 214. Re-enlistment: 22 April 1948. Bad conduct discharge 2 July 1949.

5. Declared a straggler on this date. 1 August 1948. NAVPERS-601.

6. Declared a deserter from the USS Tarawa. 30 August 1948. Personal effects sold at auction. NAVPERS-601.

7. “Six Killed, Two Injured in Collision.” The Baltimore Sun. October 19,1948.

8. *Note about how I contacted the boy who survived.

9. BROOKS v. CHILDRESS. 198 Md. 1 (Md. 1951). Decided May 17th, 1951.

10. Apprehended by civil authorities at Sanford, N.C. 15 January 1949. NAVPERS-601.

11. General Court Martial documents. 8 March 1949.

12. Laubscher-Schott wedding. December 31, 1949. Essex, MD. Recorded in the family Bible of Margaret Laubscher.

[4]

1. Laubscher-Schott wedding announcement. The Pilot. Southern Pines, NC. January 10, 1950. Page 13, Col. 1.

2. Register of Deeds. North Carolina Birth Indexes. David Lee Laubscher. September 1952. Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina State Archives. Microfilm. NCVR_B_C058_66002. Vol. 36. Page 547.

3. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995. Lillian L Laubscher (wife of John R). W. Rose St. Sanford, NC. 1954.

4. “One driver killed, another hurt in wreck at Carthage.” The Pilot. Southern Pines, NC. September 26, 1952. Page 1, Col. 7.

[5]

1. “Wife’s vacant indifference. . .” I have tried to indicate the places where I am imagining what Red and Lillian thought or how they acted, but I occasionally took some liberties by stating certain thoughts and actions as fact. Having examined all of the historical documents at my disposal and interviewed any party who could have provided insight into their relationship, I feel comfortable doing this from time-to-time when the use of qualifiers such as “might have” or “I imagine” would have interrupted the flow of the scene.

2. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995. John R. Laubscher, mechanic. Sanford, NC. 1954. Mechanic

3. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995. John R. Laubscher, attendant, Price’s Sinclair Station. Baltimore, MD. 1959.

4. Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File. Craig Oliver Laubscher birth and death dates.

5. Interview with Bill and Betty Lou Godfrey, October 2017.

I gained some insight into the late stages of Red and Lillian’s marriage—from the time that they were living apart until the end—from the two remaining people who had first-hand knowledge of Red and Lillian during their marriage: Bill Godfrey and his sister Betty Lou.

Bill met Red when they drove trucks together out of Sanford, and he remembers him as a hard worker and a nice person.

“Red used to go up to Baltimore to stay with Lil’s family,” he told me. “I would go along sometimes, and that’s how I met Lil’s sister Jean,” whom he later married and divorced. “For better or worse,” he said with a sigh. His sister explained, “Those Schott women were. . .” she hesitated, trying to find a diplomatic word before settling on “stubborn.” “He and Lil had troubles,” Bill said, a sentiment that was echoed by his sister.

“Lil—now I’m sorry to tell you this—but Lil was seeing other men. I think he was trying to take those boys out of that.” Bill agreed: “He tried to take care of those boys.”

[6 and Interlude]

1. Bill of Complaint. Circuit Court of Baltimore County. Equity papers. 21 July 1961.

Since nearly everyone who would have had personal knowledge of Red and Lillian's relationship has passed, I realized I would have to let historical documents fill in some details for me. At the Maryland State Archives, I found court documents relating to their divorce among the equity papers from Baltimore City.

Lillian's testimony, which is corroborated by her sister Louise, provides some insight into her life with Red in the late stage of their marriage. In her accounting of events, Red had left her several times before he finally left for good in May of 1961, knocking out all of the windows in the house on his way out for good measure. There is no mention of his abduction of the boys, nor does she provide reason for his outburst, only that it was one instance among many that left her fearing for her life and begging for a divorce and for custody of their children.

While this testimony seems to confirm all that I had heard growing up, it is coming from the selfsame sources so it hardly comes as a surprise. There is never a response from Red in the court papers, however—no defense of himself, no pleas to be granted custody of the boys. That might, in the end, be the most damning evidence against him.

[7]

1. Florida Department of Health. Florida Marriage Index, 1927-2001. John Rosser Laubscher and Jean Anita Oliver. 9 July 1971. Seminole, Florida. Vol. 3078.

2. Florida Department of Health. Florida Divorce Index, 1927-2001. John Rosser Laubscher and Jean Anita Oliver. 22 May 1972. Seminole, FL.

3. Deed of Distribution. Probate Court. State of South Carolina. County of Sumter. Vol. 621, Page 797. 17 April 1995.

[10]

I learned about Red’s return to NC from a conversation with Marty. As soon as he told me about Red’s visit, I recalled hearing at some point while growing up that Lillian’s sister Jean, who was still living in North Carolina at the time of Red’s return, had informed him about Craig’s death and expressed her disappointment that he made no effort to contact Lillian.

[11]

“The Father Absence Crisis in America.” U.S. Census Bureau. Living arrangements of children under 18 years old: 1960 to present. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.