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.
