Marguerite Louise Schulstad 1892-1969

Marguerite Louise Schulstad

Born: 18 May 1892

Chicago, Illinois

Father: Lars Schulstad b. 1847 Olso, Norway

Mother: Elen Guering Nilsen-Mehling b. 1847 Stavanger, Norway

Lars and Elen were married in Norway and began their family there.  Their first 7 children were born in Bergen, Norway.  Two of those children died in Norway.  They travelled to the United States with five children. 

First they lived in Minnesota.  Lars’ brother, Ludvig, lived there too.  Two children, Ellen and Melvin, were born in Austin, Minnesota before the family moved to Chicago, Illinois.  Richard was born in Chicago in 1889 and Marguerite in 1892.  There was 22 years between the birth of the first child and the birth of the last.

Lars was a tailor.  We have been told he was rather short and sat on the table near the window to sew.

The family of Lars’ brother Ludvig stayed in Minnesota and enjoys family reunions nearly every year.  There are Schulstads all over the country who can trace their families back to these two brothers.  They were 2 sons of 5 children.  The rumor is they left to avoid the military draft.  More about the family they left behind later.

In a previous post I related the story of Marguerite getting married in 1913, at the age of 19, to Frank Phillips.  It was 15 years before their son, Ernest, my dad, was born.  Only two years after that Marguerite became a widow.  It was 1930 in Chicago.  The stock market crashed the year before, prohibition was going on, Al Capone and his cronies were shooting up the place and Marge was a single mom with a 2 year old.  Chicago was so gangster-filled that they made a video game called “Chicago 1930”. 

Marguerite Schulstad Phillips packed up her stuff and her little boy and moved to southern California.  Her older sister had relocated to this area and she went to stay with them for awhile.  At some point the two of them did move back to Chicago.  Ernest went to school and Marguerite worked as a Postmistress in a drug store. 

I remember visiting her at work one time with my sister and brothers and she gave us all brand new pennies.  These were very special because they had the Lincoln Monument on the reverse and that was a big change from the previous penny design.  I was eight years old and I knew that a change in the design was a unique event. 

After returning to Chicago, Marguerite married John (Jack) Langbauer.  This was the dad my dad knew.  Ernest took his name and went by Ernest Langbauer for many years, even though there was never a legal adoption.  I remember seeing several books growing up, with Ernest Langbauer written in them.  Jack died in May of 1948 at the age of 48.  Ernest was in college at the time.

Upon graduation dad went into the Army.  It was necessary for him to use his legal name and his birth certificate said “Ernest Phillips”.  So he went back to using Phillips. 

In the sixties Grandma Langbauer, as we knew her, again moved to California.  Her sister Betty lived with her daughters, Isabelle and Roberta (Bobby).  As their families grew I am sure she was surrounded with love and comfort.

Marguerite Schulstad Phillips died in October 1969 and is buried at Pacific Crest Cemetery in Los Angeles.

This is a rather short summary of a long and interesting life.  I will expand on some of the people, places and events mentioned here and add more pictures.  I welcome comments, corrections and additions.