{"id":19,"date":"2026-05-24T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/?p=19"},"modified":"2026-06-29T12:38:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:38:49","slug":"erminie-longtin-hollywood-astrologer-grave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/2026\/05\/24\/erminie-longtin-hollywood-astrologer-grave\/","title":{"rendered":"Erminie Longtin, Hollywood Astrologer and “Minister,” Los Angeles California (1930s-1940s): Evidence File"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Genealogical research requires expanding the search beyond the individual being researched. While researching Edith ‘La Reina’ Rule for my article in the California Genealogical Society’s The California Nugget (Spring 2025), I encountered Erminie Longtin \u2014 a unique woman in 1930s Hollywood who performed La Reina’s marriage ceremony. Erminie didn’t make the final editing cut for the published article, but her story is too interesting to leave untold. The records below document her journey from Canada to Minneapolis to Reno to Hollywood \u2014 and her final resting place alongside her children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Reina Rule\u2019s marriage to William G. Berwald took place on 21 January 1938 in Los Angeles County.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The marriage rites were performed by astrologer Erminie Longtin, described as \u201cArchbishop and Grand Magis of the Veritas, Ancient Order of Oriental Magi (Chartered).”<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erminie (probably pronounced like Hermione) was born in Canada in 1890.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> She married Arthur Longtin in Minnesota in 1911.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erminie lived with Arthur and their three children in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1920.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> By the following year the Minneapolis city directory listed the couple at separate addresses.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 1929 in a Reno, Nevada newspaper, Erminie first advertised Astrology services.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Census enumerators found her in Los Angeles in 1930.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Longtin’s name first appeared in a Los Angeles directory in 1937 with her occupation listed as an astrologer.<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The directory confirms Erminie lived in Los Angeles at the time of La Reina’s marriage and a newspaper ad during that year placed La Reina and Erminie together at a psychic demonstration at the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Art.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dates on the grave markers for Erminie and her children Jack and Lorraine show she outlived both children \u2014 a poignant detail that adds human dimension to the records. The inscription on the marker, “Beloved Mother,” suggests her third child perhaps was living at the time of burial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The La Reina Rule article, ‘Edith “La Reina” Rule (1902-1973): Hollywood Psychic and Genealogist,’ will be featured in the upcoming Kinship Papers, Vol. 2. Subscribe to TheRecordLady.com<\/a> to receive updates on publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Photograph<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Erminie Longtin, grave marker at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California. Vanessa Wood \u00a9 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jack E. Longtin, grave marker at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California. Vanessa Wood \u00a9 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lorraine Longtin, grave marker at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, California. Vanessa Wood \u00a9 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

FEATURED IMAGE: Faux Hollywood, created by CoPilot AI, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genealogical research requires expanding the search beyond the individual being researched. While researching Edith ‘La Reina’ Rule for my article in the California Genealogical Society’s The California Nugget (Spring 2025), I encountered Erminie Longtin \u2014 a unique woman in 1930s Hollywood who performed La Reina’s marriage ceremony. Erminie didn’t make the final editing cut for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,5,7],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graves","tag-california","tag-hollywood","tag-la-reina-rule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therecordlady.com\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}