APPENDIX XIII - Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald

EARLY YEARS

Marguerite Claverie, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, was born in New Orleans in 1907,1 into a family of French and German extraction. 2 Her mother died a few years after Marguerite was born. leaving her and five other young children in the care of their father, a streetcar conductor.3 Although Marguerite describes herself as "a child of one parent," she recalls being %he of the most popular young ladies in the [grammar] school," and thinks of her childhood as a "very full happy" one.4 Her older sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret, remembers Marguerite as "a very pretty child, a very beautiful girl," 5 as does a former acquaintance, Clem H. Sehrt, who knew the Claveries.6 The family was poor but, according to Mrs. Murret, was a "happy family * * * singing all the time."7 Marguerite had 1 year of high school.8 Shortly before she was 17, she went to work as a receptionist for a law firm in New Orleans?

In August 1929, while she was still working at the law firm, Marguerite married Edward John Pic, Jr.,10 a quiet man of her own age, who worked as a clerk for T. Smith & Son. a New Orleans stevedoring company.11 The marriage was not a success, and by the summer of 1931 she and Pic were separated.12 Marguerite was then 3 months pregnant; she told her family that Pic did not want any children and refused to support her.13 Pic ascribed the separation simply to their inability to get along together.14 A boy was born on January 17, 1932, whom Marguerite named John Edward Pic.15 Pic saw his son occasionally until he was about 1 year old; after that, he did not see the boy again 16 but contributed to his support until he was 18 years old.17

During her separation from her first husband, Marguerite saw a great deal of Robert Edward Lee Oswald, an insurance premium collector,18 who also was married but was separated from his wife.19 In 1933, Marguerite was divorced from Pic20 and, Oswald's wife also having obtained a divorce,12 they were married in a Lutheran church on July 20.22 Marguerite has described the period of her marriage to Oswald as "the only happy part" of her life.23 A son was born on April 7, 1934, who was named for his father; 24 Oswald wanted to adopt John Pic, but his mother objected on the ground that John's father might cut off the support payments.25 In 1938, the Oswalds purchased a new house on Alvar Street for $3,900,26 in what John remembered as "a rather nice neighborhood." 27 The house was across the street from the William Frantz School,28 which first John and