E. Crosby Michel (1913-1984)

Evelyn Crosby Michel
Writer, Artist, Teacher
Born November 11, 1913, New York

Died January 11, 1984, Maryland

Update, April 6, 2023:

Based on comments below from family members of Evelyn Crosby Michel and on the way the facts line up, I have concluded that it was she who wrote the text for seven installments of the Weird Tales feature "Weirdisms." All were drawn by Lee Brown Coye.

Evelyn Emmeline Crosby was born on November 11, 1913, in New York State. Her father was Loran Percival "Percy" Crosby, a carpenter and contractor born at Lake George, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Evelyn Crosby's mother was Clara Victoria (Miller) Crosby. In 1915, the Crosby family lived in Buffalo, New York. In 1920, 1925, and 1930, they were in Syracuse, New York. On August 28, 1931, Evelyn Crosby married Thomas Ethen Adams in Fulton, New York. She married again, possibly in 1936. Her new husband was Burnett Adam Michel, and so Evelyn E. Crosby Adams became Evelyn Crosby Michel or E. Crosby Michel.

In the Federal census of 1940, Evelyn C. Michel was in Syracuse with her husband and his sister. The Michel children were born in the early 1940s. Burnett A. Michel served in the U.S. Navy from April 1945 to February 1946. From July 1947 to September 1948, E. Crosby Michel wrote the text for seven installments of "Weirdisms," a non-fiction feature in Weird Tales magazine. Lee Brown Coye (1907-1981), also of Syracuse, was the artist. After the departure of E. Crosby Michel, Coye wrote and drew ten more installments, from November 1948 to July 1951.

Chris Michel, daughter of Evelyn Crosby Michel, has left a comment below on her mother, her life, and her career. She believes Evelyn attended Onondaga elementary school and high school. She attended Santa Barbara City College in Santa Barbara, California, and taught art at the New Mexico School of Mines in Socorro, now the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Ms. Michel writes that Evelyn moved to Socorro in about 1947-1948. If it was 1948, that move roughly coincided with the end of her tenure as the writer of "Weirdisms." Her father also died in 1948.

According to Ms. Michel, her mother lived in Maryland twice, in California from 1958 to 1962, and in Silver Spring, Maryland, from 1969 to her death on November 11, 1984. I believe I have found Evelyn Crosby in the Federal census of 1950. If this was she, then she was married to Curt McLaughlin (1914-?), a native of Monroe, New York, and an employee of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Socorro, New Mexico. Her two children (his stepchildren) were with them at the time.

I would like to thank Chris Michel and Jamie B. for their comments, which, I believe, have solved the mystery of E. Crosby Michel.

E. Crosby Michel's Feature Series in Weird Tales

"Weirdisms"

Drawings by Lee Brown Coye

Legends by E. Crosby Michel

• "Vampires" (July 1947)
• "Vampires" (2 pages; Sept. 1947)
• "Vampires" (Nov. 1947)
• "Witches" (Jan. 1948)
• "Sabbat-Witches" (May 1948)
• Witchcraft (July 1948)
• "Witches" (Sept. 1948)

"Weirdisms," July 1947, with art by Lee Brown Coye and legend by E. Crosby Michel, two creators of Syracuse, New York.

Original Article, March 12, 2016:

Evelyn Crosby Michel, like Michael Labonski, was an associate of artist Lee Brown Coye. And, like Labonski, she presents a problem to the researcher and biographer. I have found a woman named Evelyn Michel in the Syracuse area of the 1940s and '50s. Her name, however, was given as Evelyn Marion Michel. No Crosby in sight. I wonder if I have the right woman. There was another Evelyn Michel in Syracuse, born in about 1911, making her a near contemporary of Coye and Labonski. Maybe she was the right Evelyn. Whoever she was, E. Crosby Michel wrote the text for the first seven installments of "Weirdisms," published in Weird Tales from July 1947 to September 1948. Lee Brown Coye assumed the writing chores on "Weirdisms" after that and carried it through to its end in July 1951. Coye also drew all seventeen installments.

E. Crosby Michel's Feature Series in Weird Tales
All were drawn by Lee Brown Coye.

"Weirdisms" (July 1947)

"Weirdisms" (Sept. 1947)

"Weirdisms" (Nov. 1947)

"Weirdisms" (Jan. 1948) 

"Weirdisms" (May 1948)

"Weirdisms" (July 1948) 

"Weirdisms" (Sept. 1948)

Further Reading

Evelyn Crosby Michel received brief mention in Arts Unknown: The Life & Art of Lee Brown Coye by Luis Ortiz (2005), p. 83.

Thanks to Kara Greene, Local History/Genealogy, Onondaga Public Library, Syracuse, New York, for information on Evelyn Marion Michel.

Text copyright 2016, 2023 Terence E. Hanley