Maria Russell - The Later Years

     

     Maria Frances Ackley married CTR in March 1879.  She left the family address in 1897, and in 1903 started legal proceedings to formalize the separation. It was granted in 1906 and a later hearing in 1907 settled the alimony. This article reviews what happened to Maria later up to her death in 1938.

     After sharing a house in Cedar Avenue, Pittsburgh, with her sister Emma, Maria went to live in the Pittsburgh suburb of Avalon. She was there in 1907 because her 1907 book The Twain One was sold from an Avalon address. She is there in the 1910 census, living alone. She was still there in 1917 when a Bible student named ‘Sister Wilson’ called on her in what is described as “the regular Pastoral service.” The account was written up rather vaguely in the St Paul Enterprise for 20 February 1917, where Maria states she was not present when a Pittsburgh minister attacked her late husband from the pulpit as had been reported. The letter was headed “The Charge Not True” and the letter was sent in by J A Bohnet.

     The point was made in the letter that “Sister Russell…professes full faith in the ransom, in the high calling, restitution, chronology and the Studies in the Scriptures in general.”

     The letter also states that “Sister Wilson says she greatly enjoyed the visit and was invited to come again.” Maria also stated that she had much to do with the production of the first three volumes.

     Whether Sister Wilson made another visit is not recorded.

     While Maria was living in Avalon, her sister Emma gained a post at Bethany College in West Virginia. This was an educational establishment founded by Alexaander Campbell linked to the Restoration movement (Disciples of Christ). It had been a co-educational college since the 1880s. The details are given below as part of her newspaper obituary.

     When Emma retired, the two sisters finally moved to Florida at the end of 1922 and bought a house together. From the Tampa Bay Times for 24 December 1922:

     According to Emma’s last will and testament dated 13 September 1926 the two sisters owned the house between them; they each had “a one-half undivided interest” in the property.

     When Emma died first, her will left her share to Maria with a lifetime interest, but with the understanding that daughter Mabel, or if necessary her heirs would eventually inherit.

     Emma died in early 1929. From the Tampa Bay Times for 6 February 1929:

     This noted that her position at Bethany College had been former dean of women. A similar report in the Tampa Bay Tribune added that she’d held this position for eight years prior to her retirement. A telephone enquiry several decades ago suggested she had been “Matron of Phillips Hall” at the college which may be a more accurate description.

     The 1930 census shows that Maria continued living in the house on her own.

     There are several small references to her in the local papers – she leaves the area for a number of weeks to escape the excessive heat, she visits relatives in Chicago (her late brother Lemuel’s family), she tries unsuccessfully to get the taxes on the property reduced – etc. She doesn’t appear to have been much involved in local events, but that may just be because of her age. However, she still retains an interest in theological matters. One example is found in a letter she wrote in 1931. It is from the Tampa Bay Times for 29 July 1931, page 4.

     Under the heading Open Forum and with the usual disclaimers, letters to the editor were invited.

     Maria responded:

Editor The Times:

  If you can find space in your Open Forum I would like by this means to suggest a thought that present events have brought forcibly to my attention. It is that the present world-wide financial depression may really be viewed as a blessing in disguise however hard it strikes us both corporately and individually.

  It has compelled a sudden halt in human affairs, and both nations and individuals are forced to consider, to study, and to mend their ways. The eternal principles of truth and righteousness are put to the fore, and good men, providentially exalted to positions of power and influence, are pleading with the world, both as nations and as individuals, to repent and to do the works mete for repentance.

  Well, they are doing it. Praise the Lord! Our honored president points out and leads the way, and lo, the heart of the nations is yielding. Truly there is cause for rejoincing as nation after nation responds – in humility and in mercy toward one another. Financial prosperity could never have wrought this miracle, but “when the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” – Isa. 26:9.

  And this reminds me of the Lord’s typical course with guilty Nineveh. He sent his prophet, Jonah, to anounce that within three days the city would be destroyed, because the wrath of God was upon it. But Nineveh repented quickly, suddenly; and God also repented ad mercy stayed the hand of justice. It looks to me like a parallel case here on a very large – a world-wide scale. Consider: Notwithstanding the terrible experiences of the World war and its bitter aftermath, the interval since the armistice has been spent largely in hasty and feverish peparation for another conflict, which all know must be more terrible and ruinously destructive. No nation wants it, but anger, suspicion and fear impel them all to arm for defense from inevitable danger. (“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come” – “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”) But just as the nations stand today – armed to the teeth with every weapon of destruction that advanced science can invent, and trembling for fear of what seems inevitable in the nearing future, God has interposed in mercy and let the financial crisis come with all of its forebodings of world-wide disaster. Then, just in the nick of time He puts in the heart and mind of our noble president a plan for relief, conditioned upon observance of the principles of righteousness and mercy. Mr Hoover proved a ready instruments – wise, patient, resourceful, conservative, righteous, merciful alike to friend or foe. And lo, the nations and peoples almost everywhere respond, and the principles of righteousness and forbearance are everywhere coming to the fore.

  Judgment indeed must be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies (is doing it) and waters of truth shall overflow the hiding places of error and sin.

  Well, the world is breathing easier – with now hope and courage, and further deeply significant developments, at the arms conference, etc., will soon claim our attention. It is a time of prayer that those in authority may have wisdom and divine guidance, and that the evil forces may be restrained. A titanic confliect is on surely. But see Zeph, 2:1-3: “Before the decree brings forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be yer shall be hid in he day of the Lord’s anger.”

MRS. M.F. RUSSELL

E 516 Fourteenth avenue north, St. Petersburg, Fla.

     Maria’s views were now quite distant from the Bible Student movement. She was optimistic about the future, believing that the financial downturn in the world in the early 1930s was really going to work out the will of God.

     Although, as noted above, she was living on her own after Emma’s death, Maria did try to get some company. This was shown in the advertisement below from the Tampa Bay Times for 13 May 1932. She described herself as a “refined, elderly widow.”

     But in the 1935 Florida State census she is still living alone.

     As her health failed with advancing years, it appears that Emma’s daughter, Mabel Packard, and her family took responsibility for her. Her obituary notice in the paper spoke of her niece, Mrs Richard Packard “of this city.” When Maria died in 1938, her last will and testament dated 4 April 1936 showed Mabel Packard inheriting the house in full. There were also a number of monetary gifts to various nieces and nephews ranging from $100 to $700. Maria had also loaned Mabel $1400 and that debt was now cancelled.

     This all indicates that Maria was economically secure at the end of her life. As for the house – it last came on the market in the early 2020s and was then valued at over one million dollars.

     The Ackley sisters, Maria and Emma, both had concerns about money during their lives, but ultimately they were quite comfortable financially.

Swanee River

      Most articles on these history blogs have a very direct connection with Watch Tower history and pre-history. But others have a more tenuous link. This is one of the latter.

     Stephen Foster (1826-1864) is sometimes called “the father of American popular music.” He wrote over 200 songs, some of which are still performed today. Many suggest the music of the southern states, and were performed by minstrel groups, although apparently Foster only ever visited the south once in his life. Camptown Races, My Old Kentucky Home, Beautiful Dreamer, and Swanee River (Old Folks at Home) are among his titles. The latter became the state song of Florida in 1935.

     When he died in 1864 he was buried in the Allegheny cemetery, as were a good number of his family. Most readers here will know that CTR’s parents, siblings and other relatives were also buried in a family plot in this cemetery.

The Tampa Bay Times carried an interview with Mabel Packard in its issue of 24 January 1960.

     Mabel Packard was the daughter of Joseph Lytle Russell, CTR’s father, through his second wife, Emma Ackley. So she was CTR's half-sister. She was born in 1881 and when about 15, Stephen Foster’s brother, Morriston Foster (1823-1904) was a next door neighbor. From him she got the information that one of Stephen’s most famous songs that starts “Way down upon the Swanee River” was originally called something else – “the Pee Dee River.”  “Swanee” sounded a lot better and the name stuck.

     The house where Mabel was living at the time of the interview was the address for her mother Emma Russell, and also her aunt Maria Frances Russell from 1922 until their deaths. Emma died in 1929 and Maria died in 1938, but according to the newspaper cutting Mabel did not move into the area until 1941. That could well be an error. The obituary for Maria in 1938 mentioned a surviving niece, Mrs Richard Packard of "this city." Mabel died aged 80 towards the end of 1961, and is buried in the same family plot as Emma and Maria.

Herald of Gospel Liberty, July 11, 1912

This was a reaction to "Pastor Russell's Newspaper Sermons." This was included in an longer article complaining that Mormon-owned newspapers would not carry paid ads for anti-Mormon pamphlets. The reference to "Patent Inside" pages was to preprinted newspaper pages sold to newspaper publishers to provide them with content at a nominal cost, about what the publisher would have to pay for blank paper alone. Herewith the article extract:

We notice, too, that Mr. Russell, the Millenial Dawnist, gets his sermons in many of these "patent insides." Think of it! We know enthusiastic members of Protestant churches who publish papers, using the "patent insides," carrying to their readers each week "a well-loaded barrel" of Russellism. Do you suppose you can find a single Russellite editor who would be carrying with his consent a sermon against Russellism? It is time for Protestant Christians to be waking up we cannot afford to swallow everything whole which may be pushed at us. Indeed we cannot, and it is time for us to begin to choose the kind of reading matter that comes into our homes each week, and even daily. It is an insult to have a big dish of Mormonism and Russellism pushed at us in every literary meal we get.

From: Light on Mormonism, October-December 1929

 The editor published part of a very long letter from a former Mormon bishop who was "caught" between Mormonism and the Bible Students, attracted to both but part of neither. 

A "COME - BACK" OF RUSSELLISM 

Our article on this active and dangerous sect in LIGHT for December was entirely kindly and Christly, though as plain as need be; just as a surgeon must sometimes be very plain with his knife. But the response of the ex- Mormon bishop in Ogden, Utah, is disappointing. He writes a long letter, in a spirit which we do not like to see in anybody, and which is never justifiable; especially toward one who has been always kind and acted only in good conscience in this matter. We can best show needed facts by quoting a little from the letter. But please remember in reading it that its writer is a combined product of both Mormonism and Russellism, and that both systems are about equally evident in his letter. We hardly need say that from beginning to end there is hardly an assertion that is even based on fact, while most seem only ventings of enmity against the Christian church and its Bible truth, which often characterizes the work of Russellism everywhere.

  

The Bible Students, as you are pleased to call them, are preaching the message of the Kingdom of Heaven which is at hand, and which means the complete deliverance of the race from bondage of sin and death, Priests and Preachers, Hell-fire screachers and blasphemous defamers of God's name in general.

On the other hand, the antitypes of those mentioned above including yourself are preaching that God made man and with a foreknowledge that he would fall, then placed in him a soul that cannot die and prepared a torture chamber called hell in which to forever wreak out upon them the wrath of a God whom the Bible says is love. And remember, Rev., not over 3 percent of the earth's people ever heard of the only name whereby man can be saved.

Research Needs

 I need clear scans of the following

1898, A Letter to Major Whittle From the Berean Bible Class of Tiffin, Ohio (A. S. Herr)

1901, Future Probation (Horace A. Randle). This is held by three British libraries. Cost to USA is prohibitive. Perhaps one of our readers in the UK can acquire scans. 

c. 1908, Questions Answering Questions (A. B. Dabney). Located but no response from the library that owns a copy. 

1909 The Three Great Covenants of Scripture (William Crawford):

1909 The Wonderful Story of God’s Love (Margaret Russell Land):

1909, After the War (E. H. Sutton):

Photodrama operatives

With thanks to Bernhard who supplied the photograph.

The word “Operatoris” is the Latin for “operators.”

The first showing of the Photodrama to the general public appears to have been on January 11, 1914, at the New York City Temple. Cutting below is from the New York Sun, January 11, 1914, page 13.

It should be noted that Fred Franz in a 1987 WT gave the date of January 4 for the premiere, but this may have been a special showing for Bible Students.

Jehovah's Witnesses: Their Position

 I need a clear scan of this tract, published in the UK during World War 2. Please. Anyone?

Miscellaneous Things

 These are past the era we normally research but interesting. Most were sent by Tom S. to whom we owe our thanks

From Mary Rutherford to Robison in Federal Prison

 

A Photo

 Laim C., a friend of this blog, sent this. It's taken from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary archive. It is labeled "Taken at the Atlanta Convention, July 4, 1917. Can you identify those in the photo? Click on the image to see it entire. 

The first Zion's Watch Tower

     For a collector of Watch Tower history and memorabilia, one of the prized items would have to be an original copy of the very first issue of Zions Watch Tower magazine for July 1879. Originally only 6000 copies were printed (Proclaimers page 48), which at the time – even with links to existing readers of Adventist and Age to Come papers – was still quite ambitious.

     But now we know that there was not just one published paper for that July. Like the 1611 King James Version Bible (with its two versions, a “he” and a “she” Bible) there are two known printing of the July 1879 Zion’s Watch Tower. If you are one of the very, very few with an original, which one do you have?

     The article involved was on pages 4-5 of the very first magazine. It is called ‘God’s “Little While”’ and, unlike some of the other articles which give the writer’s initials, this one is uncredited. There are around five examples where changes were made in just this one article. One assumes that some copies were printed and then additional proof reading caused the typeface to be adapted before the remainder came off the production line.

     We will examine the changes as version 1 and version 2, and then explain where these can still be seen today, even if you don’t have an original. Most readers today will either have scans of the original issues, a text file of the Watch Tower for 1879-1916, or the reprint volumes – or probably all three. They reflect the two different versions of the magazine for July 1879.

     Change number one – version 1 above and version 2 below:

     

     The scripture is changed to show the correct chapter and verse, not two chapters.

     Changes number 2 and 3. This covers the end of one column and the start of a new column. First, version number 1:

     

     Compare that with version number 2:

     

     In the second version at the end of the extract there is an extra dash for punctuation. But the biggest change is at the start of the extract. Version 1 has a question “How long, Paul, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in?” Version 2 splits this into two sentences – the first is the question, but the second is the answer to the question: “How long, Paul? Until the fllness of the Gentiles be come in.”

     Change number 4 has version 1 reproduced first, followed by version 2.

   

     The words “high calling” are now in inverted commas.

     And finally, example number 5. This too has version 1 first, followed by version 2:

    

     We note that the word “may” is added to second version, and the whole phrase is now placed within inverted commas. This is because, although the paragraph ends with a reference to Romans 11 v.2-25, this is actually a paraphrase of verse 31 of that chapter. The words inside inverted commas now reflect that, although it is still slightly adjusted from the standard King James’ Version words, which read: “Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.”

     So where do we find the two versions preserved today?

     Most collectors will have scans of the first Zion’s Watch Tower in general circulation. This scan takes its material from version number 1.

    

     It is also found in the text edition of Watch Tower 1879-1916 that many will have.

     

     Apart from the reference to Acts 15-16 which an eagle-eyed transcriber noticed and changed, this was all taken from the first version.

     But then in the early 1920s the Watch Tower magazine was reprinted in seven volumes. The organization had to borrow some issues from the friends to complete this because their own file was incomplete. But the reproduction of the first July 1879 was now all taken from the second version.

     

     This indicates that both versions must have been in general circulation at some point for this to happen.

     We know that version 2 with its amendments comes from a copy originally in private circulation. It is now inaccessible in a display under glass, but the key graphics were extracted some time ago.

     We don’t know the story behind all the small changes and why they were made in 1879. But if you want to have the very first Watch Tower in your personal collection – now you need to have TWO.

     Good hunting!

 

     (With grateful thanks to Leroy who noted the changes and provided the scans for version two)

Whatever happened to Lizzie Allen?

     In the May 1880 issue of Zion’s Watch Tower, the list of contributors had a new name, L A Allen. This was Lizzie (Elizabeth) A Allen, and her history is reviewed in Separate Identity volume one, pp. 203-207.

     She and her father, Ira, who died in 1881, had been supporters of Nelson Barbour, but when the division occurred she supported CTR. Eventually, she left Zion’s Watch Tower to support John H Paton’s Universalist group and write for his paper The World’s Hope. In 1890 she was the pastor of his Church of the Larger Hope in Buchanan. In the 1890s she wrote for a Universalist paper Manford’s New Monthly Magazine. This dwindled in the latter half of the 1890s and may have coincided with her marriage (see below), or it just may be that she switched to writing for other publications that are yet to be discovered.

     The last sighting of her had been in 1907 in the report of her mother’s funeral. We will pick up the story from there.

     When Emily Allen died there was a report in the Rochester Democratic and Chronicle for 20 February 1907 which mentioned her surviving family. Lizzie was mentioned as now living in Chicago. Crucially for research, the report also mentioned that one of Lizzie’s sisters was now a Mrs Jessie Henby who resided not far from Chicago.

     It appears that Lizzie was to die by drowning the following year in June 1908.

     Below is the death certificate for an Elizabeth A Allen, aged 49, who died from drowning on 24 June 1908.

     There are quite a number of people named Lizzie Allen in the records to make life difficult, but her parents are listed here as Ira and Emily, which makes this the right person. Lizzie has been married but is using her maiden name, and in fact, we do not know for sure who her husband was. She has one living child.  Her occupation is housekeeper, and that was her temporary employment when visiting Muskegon, Michigan. According to the certificate she died from accidental drowning in Black Lake while bathing, and there was no inquest.

     Armed with the certificate it was possible to trace newspaper accounts of what happened. There are two newspaper accounts. In the first she is a woman of mystery – because she was there temporarily on a kind of extended vacation, but no-one really knew who she was. From The Muskegon Chronicle for 25 June 1908:

     The accident was described thus: “The woman had stepped into a pit in the sandy beach of the lake where the water was about 10 feet deep and apparently did not know the first thing about swimming or the science of keeping afloat.”

     Lizzie presented the paper with several mysteries:

     So she had been married about ten years before (around the time her known writings dried up) but the marriage had only lasted about three months, and left her with a young son named Roger who was nine years old. She had continued using her maiden name, and the newspapers do not give her married name. She was known to be an expert in stenography and typing – that was part of the mystery – why was she doing domestic work? She had brought her typewriter with her which suggests active writing. Amongst her possessions were some letters from a mysterious “H.” That mystery remains unsolved.

     In the second cutting, after they had been in touch with her family, they now knew a little more. From The Muskegon Chronicle for 27 June 1908:

     She is now described as a writer and editor. She was a member of a Chicago social settlement. The settlement movement was an important reform institution in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century providing services and trying to remedy poverty in crowded immigrant neighborhoods of industrial cities. The best known settlement in the United States at the time was Hull House in Chicago. According to one reference work unrelated middle-class men and women often lived co-operatively as “settlers” with the aim of sharing knowledge and culture and implementing “social Christianity.”

     The full report shows that her family who had now been contacted included a Mrs A E Henby, which tallies with Lizzie’s named sister at her mother’s funeral the previous year. Jessie Allen (1871-1952) had married Arthur Elias Henby (1874-1936) who became a homeopathic doctor.

     The accident was viewed as straightforward – while paddling in the lake she fell into a hidden hole and drowned – while her young son, Roger, was nearby. He called for help, but it was too late.  Since Lizzie had a history of guilt and self-loathing that pushed her towards Universalism (see Separate Identity Volume 1, pp. 206-207) the possibility of suicide while mentally disturbed comes to mind. However, the locals without that background judged this to be a simple tragic accident and no inquest was required. Her body was taken by her sister back to Chicago and there was cremated.

     It was a sad end, and there may be more of her activities from the late 1890s to still discover.

Russell's Death

This article was submitted by Liam C, a faithful blog reader and adept researcher. It has a few slight edits by a blog editor. 

Russell’s Last Doctor 

            An air of mystery has always surrounded the death of Charles Taze Russell. Perhaps this says something about human nature’s struggle to let go of the past, or the way official narratives, when probed, often leave lingering questions with unsatisfying answers. Or maybe it stems purely from the circumstances – his passing on a train, far from Bible Student headquarters, with only the great Pastor’s then-secretary as witness to the event that occurred on Halloween 1916.

            Menta Sturgeon’s firsthand account in the December 1, 1916, Watch Tower pages 360–367 is a harrowing read. It vividly details how, at Russell’s insistence, the pair forged ahead on their western U.S. speaking tour despite his worsening cystitis which in a period of weeks grew from concerning to life threatening. Yet, Russell’s conviction – ‘The Lord permitted us to make out this route’ – prevailed over any thought of turning back.

            So it was that on October 31, 1916 the two men found themselves alone in a private train car rattling its way through North Texas, Russell dying and Menta watching helplessly by his side. 

Menta details the final hours  

            “We (Menta) called in the Pullman conductor and also the porter and said, "We want you to see how a great man of God can die." The sight deeply impressed them, especially the porter. I called in the regular conductor, and telegraphed for a physician to board the train at Panhandle; and he did. He saw the condition, recognized the correctness of the diagnosis and conclusion, gave me his name, and was off before the train got under headway.”

The Panhandle Herald November 3, 1916 page 1 provides the name of the last Doctor to see Russell alive. Curiously, the announcement also reported Menta Sturgeon’s intent to take Russell’s body to Kansas City for embalming, rather than Waynoka, where undertaker J.B. Kepner prepared it (see blog posts ‘J B Kepner of Waynoka’ and ‘J B Kepner revisited’ written by Jerome).

            The nearest Dr. Carlton that this writer could find to events is Samuel Ringold Carlton who shows up in the 1910 census as living in Eastland, Texas (235 miles away) and in the 1920 census as living in Denton, Texas (280 miles away). This is not to suggest he travelled from either of these locations to answer the train telegraph the day Russell died but only to show that he was practicing in the general area during the period this event happened and is likely our man. Samuel Ringold Carlton obtained his medical degree from Vanderbilt University class of 1888 and is listed in the 1916 American Medical Directory under his home state of Arkansas. His picture can be viewed at the link below:

 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25636170/samuel_ringold-carlton

An educated guess about Dr. Carlton’s visit leads to this: Likely carrying only a basic kit, he would have asked about his patient’s symptoms: painful urination, perhaps blood in the urine. He would have noted Russell’s fever, rapid pulse, and weakness. He would have checked for abdominal or kidney tenderness. Treatment was palliative including such as fluids or pain relievers. In that era there was no cure for advanced cystitis. Russell’s death occurred a few hours after this. Reports put the location of death from the train stop at Pampa, Texas to somewhere between Pampa and Canadian, Texas a stretch of about 40 miles. 

            Russell’s death in some ways ended the movement he started yet many of the ideas he popularized during his lifetime live on in religious communities around the world. Hopefully this post can add a small detail for those who like me remain fascinated by this event more than a century later.

 (Special thanks to Warren Stricker at The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and to Jeff M for the encouragement to for the encouragement to write this up)

J. C. Sunderlin - Manchester, Vermont, Journal, June 22, 1876

 

A. N. Pierson - click on the image to see it entire.

 

The People's Christian Bulletin, January-February 1926, page 60

C A Ericson

 

     When the Watch Tower Society moved its headquarters from Pittsburgh to Brooklyn in 1909 it was to become a time of great expansion in their work. The newspaper sermons, the planning for the Photodrama and connected conventions all served to make the Bible Students very well known. A number of high profile individuals took an interest in their work, and some made great sacrifices to personally spread the message.

     One such individual is the subject of this article, Carl A Ericson, or to give him his full original title as used in some early advertising material, the Reverend Carl A Ericson, D.D. of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. From the Omaha World Herald for 21 August 1910:

     Carl was a Baptist minister, and we note from the cutting that he spoke in both Swedish and English. Much of his history is unknown. Where he came from is uncertain and where he went at the end of the decade is also shrouded in mystery. Like the Bible character Melchizedek “There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors” (Hebrews 7:3 – NLT) “he has no family line” (NIRV).

     Subsequent research may change this, but there were many who appeared after the move to Brooklyn, who worked hard, and then just disappeared.

     Carl’s photograph appeared in the convention reports for 1911 and 1912, wearing his clerical robes and looking seriously into the camera. This picture would be reproduced in cropped form in many newspapers of the day.

From the 1911 convention report – full page picture

     The 1912 report has the same photograph with a transcript of his sermon “Appointed to a Kingdom.”

     We can only identify him for certain in the 1910 census. The whole Bethel family were listed in the returns taken on 29-30 April 1910.

     Ericson, Carl A. (mistranscribed as Erusor on Ancestry) is an Assistant to the head of the household, CTR; he is male, white, aged 36 and single. He was therefore born c.1874. The rest of the entry states that he was born in Massachusetts to Swedish parents, and that his occupation is Minister for Bible Society.

     What we can glean about his history prior to becoming a Bible Student is taken from various publicity releases for his work with the IBSA.

     This advertising leaflet or card from 1910 - in Swedish - gave his previous locations.

     Now billed as Pastor, Ericson is from the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and his past activity encompasses Chicago, Boston, and Brooklyn, New York.

     The Oakland Tribune for 11 July 1914 stated that Pastor C A Ericson was “Graduate Chicago University” and provided the standard photograph. The Turlock Journal for 16 July 1914 (again headed by the standard photograph) gave information on his next locations:

     So there were four years in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by a transfer to the first Baptist Church of Long Island, New York. This was noted by The Brooklyn Eagle for 12 March 1909.

     The Long Island stint was obviously brief, because a year after the news reports he was a full- time speaker for the IBSA and also giving his address as the Brooklyn Bethel.

     So his trajectory was Chicago, Boston, Long Island, and finally Brooklyn Bethel.

     However, there appears an alternative history in some press releases. At times his resume includes twelve years as pastor of a Brooklyn Church.  In 1912 The Kansas City Star for 18 April 1912 noted:

     Three years later, the San Diego Sun  for 26 February 1916 was more specific. In this account Ericson had been the former pastor of the First Baptist church in Brooklyn for twelve years.

     However, another advertisement for the same Bible Student meetings, this time from the San Diego Sun for 18 March 1916, amended the blurb to mention Boston, Mass. and Brooklyn, but without any specific time periods other than a change of direction for the past seven years. This more or less fits the time when Ericson started supporting the IBSA.

     So we have Boston for four years, Long Island for a few months and then the Brooklyn Tabernacle in one account, and a twelve year stint at the First Baptist Church in Brooklyn in the other.

     Something seems amiss. There may be some unknown reason for keeping the twelve years quiet for most of the time. Or it may be that with the plethora of Ericsons around, there were two Baptists of this name who both passed through Brooklyn at some point, and whose biographies were somehow mangled in press releases.

     Ericson’s conversion to Watch Tower theology must have been quite rapid, but this was quite common in the day. As noted earlier, so many people appeared from the time of the move to Brooklyn onwards, and then disappeared a few years later. By March 1910 he was a fully-fledged IBSA pilgrim speaker listed on the back cover of the Watch Tower, and he remained a regular feature there for over a year. Sometimes he stayed with a Bible Student group for several days. One example from 1910 is below:

     On other occasions he gave a series of talks at various locals. From early 1911:

     His talks in Swedish reached very large audiences. This cutting below from the Willmar Tribune for 23 November 1910 gives figures into the thousands for several venues.

     As well as speaking assignments arranged by the IBSA, he also appears to have given a number of lectures under his own auspices in both Swedish and English. The talk titles in newspaper advertisements over 1910-1916, along with variations on the theme “Seats free – no collection” identify these as still part of the same doctrinal package. They also showed that with “seats free” he was of independent means to be able to afford to do this. This was commented on several times. Here is one example.

     From The Turlock Journal for 16 July 1914:

     Ericson obviously had considerable private means, which ties in with other sightings. In the Post Star (Glen Falls, New York) for 1 August 1913, a  Rev. C A Ericson is selling three quality horses before relocating to the far West in September. Other evidence of personal assets in the West will be presented later.

     Some of his speaking engagements had titles a little unusual for regular Bible Student fare. With the ever familiar photograph, here is one example from The Register (Santa Ana, California) for 22 May 1915:

     Ericson’s lecture appointments at this time were now on the West Coast in California where he’d obviously settled. Some were still obviously billed as IBSA, like this example from the Long Beach Telegram and Daily News for 22 January 1916:

     The talks given a couple of months later in 1916 in San Diego as referenced above draw this period of publicity to a close.

     For his activities thereafter we have to turn to the Bible Students unofficial newspaper, the St. Paul Enterprise.

     In 1918 Ericson wrote to the Enterprise, which prompted this editorial response in the issue for 16 April 1918:

     The other references to Ericson involve the attempted sale of real estate. Confirming that he had substantial personal means, even if it was tied up in property, the Enterprise carried his advertisement in its issue for 3 October 1916:

     We note that Ericson was living in Redondo Beach, California, at this time. Two and a half years later he put up another advertisement for what seems suspiciously like the same property, but at a greatly reduced figure. This notice appears in the Enterprise for 1 April 1919:

     We note that Ericson is still living in Redondo Beach. The second notice suggests he may also have been handling real estate for others at times; either that or he owned multiple properties. This was carried in the Enterprise up until October of 1919.

     During this time period, someone named C A Ericson had a poem published in the local Redondo newspaper. It was an anti-war poem published in The Redondo Reflex, for 11 May 1917.

     America had officially entered the Great War on 6 April 1917, but initially public opinion was much divided with so many nationalities in the country. The poem The Prayer of the Nations by C A Ericson has no positive message and doesn’t hint at the “Divine Plan” so it may well not be our man, but is reproduced here out of interest. Its theme would be partly echoed nearly 50 years later when Bob Dylan wrote “With God on our Side.”

THE PRAYER OF THE NATIONS

The churches are praying, and crying to God,

To destroy the enemy and the submarine squad.

In Germany and Britain, they all pray the same:

O Lord; slay our enemies, we ask in thy name!

 

We know God is with us, the Germans all cry,

And so do the British, who are ready to die.

They give up their lives, for the country they love,

And say it’s of God, their Father above.

 

Because we are mighty, extraordinary strong,

We’ll control all the seas, and the countries e’er long.

We’ll sink all their ships, and rob them as well,

We’ll slaughter the enemy, and send them to hell.

 

It’s a terrible thing to murder a man,

The rope and the gallows, are then in demand.

But to sink a great ship, full of lives out at sea,

Brings a name and great honors, rejoicing and glee.                 

 

The bombs they are dropping from Zeppelins on high,

Doing their work of destruction, from above, as they fly;

They blow up their cargo, and say, “sink – or – swim!”

And praise the Lord, and blame it on Him.

 

At the front are the soldiers, all ready to fight,

The priest and the parson, are both there in sight,

Blessing the shells, and kneeling in prayer;

Telling the soldiers that God will be there.

 

Just across from these trenches, the enemy, too,

Have their preachers, and priests, the same thing they do;

They both pray to God, and say they are right,

So if Christ’s Spirit’s with each, then how could they fight?

 

Just fancy their God, away off in the sky –

The prayers of the Germans ascending on high;

With the prayers of the English, a coming up too –

Now tell me, dear hearers, What-on-earth-could-God-do?

 

Part 2: So what happened next?

     Up to and including the real estate references in the Enterprise for 1919 we can be reasonably confident that the person we have followed is the former Baptist minister who worked for the Bible Student cause. However, it has not been possible to establish with any certainity what happened to him after then. Once the World War ended, there are a number of sightings of a C A Ericson, or even a Carl A Ericson, often with links to the Baptist movement, but no conclusive ties to our man. Ericson is a very common name for Americans of Swedish origin, as are the initials C and A. Pinpointing the right person is problematic.

     One of the first post-war events featuring a C A Ericson was in 1919, and mentions a familiar place – Redondo Beach. A Baptist minister of that name and location, found himself arrested on a charge of theft.

     The story is in the Long Beach (California) Telegram and Daily News for 25 June 1919,

     He was accused of stealing an automobile tire.

     Rather than having a rational discussion, the man who made the accusation punched Ericson in the face instead, and a battered Baptist was arrested. He was charged with theft. Ericson claimed he had just removed the tire so he could get his own vehicle out of a tight parking spot.

     It is quite a curious case. This C A Ericson had resources. For the court hearing, he was able to hire an attorney and also stump up $1200 bail (worth over $22,000 today), which seems high for the alleged crime. It also begs the question: if he could afford an attorney and raise that bail, why would he want to steal a tire? I could find no outcome of the trial in the newspapers, which suggests the matter was dismissed or he was acquitted. Only a guilty verdict for a clergyman would have been newsworthy.

     Another event came in 1928-1929.

     In the Oakland Tribune for 31 December 1928, the Forest Hill Baptist Church of Oakland, California, provides news of a church concert, which mentions their Pastor as being the Rev. C.A. Ericson – who is late of two familiar places, Brooklyn and Boston. In a further story from 1929, Carl A Ericson (now Carl Alexander Ericson) is banned from the church. The cutting below is from the Oakland Tribune for 15 June 1929.

     According to the newspaper, Ericson had been unfrocked by the Baptist Union on 7 March, 1929, for “(unspecified) conduct unbecoming a Baptist minister and his ordination was revoked and cancelled.”

     He was then accused of breaking into the church and continuing to conduct services in a building the Baptist Union owned. It went to court and Ericson lost. The cutting talks of the Baptist Union winning the first round of this fight, but if there were any subsequent rounds they do not appear to be documented.

     Moving on again, we now come to 1934 and 1935 where a retired Baptist minister named – C A Ericson – “of Hollywood” and “graduated from the University of Chicago” and previously from Brooklyn, is speaking at Porterville and Tulare, both in California and about 24 miles apart by road. This Ericson had been involved with YMCA summer camps for the past 15 years at Lake Sequoia. The Tulare Advance Register for 10 February 1934 states that he was ordained in the Baptist Temple, Brooklyn, and served that church for “the past 12 years of his active ministry.” We remember that just a couple of publicity announcements for our Ericson in the 1910s mentioned twelve years in a Brooklyn Baptist church, although this was generally omitted from press releases of the time.

     All of these sightings, or some of these sightings, or none of these sightings may be the actual Carl A Ericson who spoke to thousands at a time in the work of the IBSA.

     We might have expected that when Ericson died a newspaper obituary would have linked the right people together, or at least have let us know what really happened to him. But while there are quite a few people of that name whose death is recorded none of them provide any clues to link to our subject.

     On Find a Grave – a brilliant but incomplete resource – the only one with a birthdate that might fit is: Carl Alexander Ericson, born 1873 in Massachusetts (which location would fit the 1910 census) and who died in 1955 in Los Angeles County (which would fit our last confirmed sighting). This of course might be the Carl Alexander Ericson who had troubles with his church back in 1929, but we don’t know. The simple headstone just gives his name, dates and the message, “In loving memory.”

     But from whom?

     Epilogue: This started life as just a filler based on a newspaper advertisement, but as so often happens, it grew. If any other researcher can untangle the story further in search of the real C A Ericson, please do so, and please leave a comment.

 

A personal note:

     When this article was first published elsewhere it attracted attention from a colleague with a mischievous bent, who subjected the whole to an AI (Artificial Intelligence) critique. The results were, shall we say, interesting, and this is a lesson (or warning?) to any who wish to use such tools.

     Overall the review was quite favorable, although it didn’t like certain aspects, which had actually been quite deliberate decisions on my part. My post was “inconclusive.” Well, yes, that is true because the subject was inconclusive. My post ended abruptly.  True, and that was quite deliberate - to leave the mystery subject still hanging in the air. The punctuation was incorrect, especially in a poem from over one hundred years ago, but that was hardly my fault. You can see a certain pattern here – I don’t mind criticism. Except when I do…

     But the piece de resistance was comedy. AI was asked to spice up the writing style with a few jokes. Here is a selection that resulted.

     After discussing conflicting accounts of Ericson’s pastoral experience: “At this point I considered taking up a less confusing hobby, like astrophysics or untangling headphones.”

     After discussing Ericson as a Pilgrim speaker but now on the West Coast: “It seems Mr. Ericson took the Pilgrim moniker a bit too literally, and decided to keep on keepin’ on till he hit the Pacific.”

     After discussing how common Ericson’s name was: “Trying to find the right Carl A Ericson is like trying to find a specific grain of sand on Redondo Beach. Only the grains of sand don’t get arrested for stealing tires.”

     After discussing the problems finding information: “The amount of information was at times overwhelming, but I preached on, as I’m sure Rev. Ericson would have wanted.”

     After discussing how many people came and went as Watch Tower evangelizers: “So many people appeared from the time of the move to Brooklyn onwards, and then disappeared a few years later (sort of like socks in a washing machine really).”

     And there were more…

     One bit of advice that AI threw in – if the joke doesn’t feel natural or relevant, leave it out.

     Fine – that sorts that all out then.

     With yet another example of an abrupt ending.