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.

Judge Rutherford's Grave

    

 While this is way outside the general time frame for this blog, a couple of interesting pictures have come to hand, and this is probably the best platform on which to share them, with permission.

     CTR was buried at the Society’s own cemetery plot in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, Pittsburgh, in 1916. The 1919 convention report stated that a grave plot had also been put aside on site for J F Rutherford for when the time came.

     However, Pittsburgh soon faded into the background in major Society events. By the time JFR died in January 1942, he was spending his time between the Brooklyn N.Y. headquarters, the Staten Island radio station, WBBR, and Beth-Sarim in San Diego, California. He died at Beth-Sarim.

     He’d wanted to be buried on the Beth-Sarim property, but that was not to be. The full story can be checked in Consolation magazine for May 27, 1942.

     Ultimately he was buried in the Society’s graveyard adjacent to WBBR on Staten Island, New York. The WBBR property, which included dwellings and a small farm as well as the radio transmitter, adjoined the historic Woodrow Road Methodist Church. This had a variety of graveyards surrounding it, some pre-dating the church.

     Hayden Covington, in an interview shortly before he died, described how he, along with William and Bonnie Heath, traveled across the United States by train to bring the coffin to New York.

     The brief graveside funeral was conducted by Nathan Knorr and was reported in the press:

Source of cutting unknown

     The same news story was reproduced in a number of papers including The Carlisle Sentinel (Pennsylvania) for April 27, 1942, and The Los Angeles Times for April 26, 1942. These added an extra section before the last paragraph in the press release above.

“Today’s services were brief. The body was taken in a hearse from a funeral home to the cemetery without cortege. At the cemetery entrance a small group of followers was waiting. They carried the casket from the hearse to the grave.”

     The policy at the time was to have no grave markers at all on this site, which had been in use at least since 1932 when Robert J. Martin, a Society director and Factory Overseer, died. This remained the case for JFR. Because of this the place did not receive many visitors. However, that changed slightly in 1950.

     In 1950 the Society held the Theocracy Increase Assembly in New York over July 30 – August 6. During that time a series of photographs was issued – possibly as part of a photobook. They appear to have been produced by a private company, from this information stamped on the back of one of them.

     Over the assembly period visitors were offered tours of the Brooklyn factory and Bethel Home, as well as the WBBR radio station property with the Society’s cemetery adjacent. The photo series included various assembly scenes, and a visit to Kingdom Farm (where Gilead School was then housed). Many of the scenes look like they may have come from official sources.

     However, a visit to J F Rutherford’s grave was included and the “snapshot” nature of the picture suggests this was very unofficial.

     Since the whole point about the cemetery was that there were no markers for anyone, we have to accept that these visitors were at the right spot.

     Perhaps based on that photograph and the positioning of the tree, at least one visitor to the 1950 assembly had his own photograph taken at the same location.

     The WBBR property was sold in the late 1950s, and the cemetery was last used in the mid-1960s. To replace it, a new cemetery was created at Wallkill. What was called The Watchtower Farms Cemetery had a new policy to provide small grave markers with just the name and dates of the deceased.

     In 2015 a visitor took this picture of the Woodrow Road site.

     It is interesting to note that of the eight who went to jail together in 1918, six of them (in reality all those who remained in fellowship) continued to work together as one and were ultimately buried together at this location.

     With grateful thanks to Tom S., Chris G., Kris M. and Vincent B. for the images.

Addenda

     When this material was first published elsewhere, a question was raised about the six buried together in the Bethel plot in Woodrow Road. Robert J Martin was buried there in 1932 - see Awake February 22, 1952. Although Find a Grave states that MacMillan and DeCecca were buried at Wallkill, this is incorrect. The WT 1966 10/1 plainly shows that MacMillan was buried at Woodrow Road, and DeCecca died a few months before him. Apart from these two names, all those whose dates of death are listed for Wallkill in the Find a Grave index only date from the 1970s onward.

The Rutherfords in Monrovia

In 1954 there was a little human interest story on the front page of the Daily News and Monrovia Daily News for June 8, 1954. An old lady named Mrs J F Rutherford was pictured with the mailman, “Buck” Bailey, who had been delivering for about thirty years. It was claimed he’d done the equivalent of walking around the world four times in that time.

Reproduced with permission from newspapers.com

This photograph and news story has an interesting link to Watch Tower history because the old lady was Mary, widow of Joseph F Rutherford, who was then living at 159 Stedman Place. The suggestion in the newspaper was that the postie had been delivering to her for thirty years. In fact, according to the Monrovia-News-Post for July 15, 1935, the Stedman Place property only had a planning permit that year.

However, a check of Google maps shows that immediately backing onto the 159 Stedman Place plot was 160 North Primrose Avenue. And this is where Mary had been for most of the 1920s, one assumes on Bailey’s postal round. And it could well be that the original plot for the North Primrose Avenue address had been extensive enough to allow the construction of a brand new property on it in 1935, fronting onto the parallel road.

Mary’s address was given as 160 North Primrose in a number of trade and street directories throughout the 1920s. One example below listed all the existing numbers in the street in 1928. Here you can see Mary at number 160.

It is noted that some numbers are missing. This is likely because the properties were either not constructed or occupied at this time, as the whole area was under development. Mary’s home, number 160, was constructed in 1922 so it is likely she moved into a new property that year or shortly thereafter.

Interestingly the same year as the above directory entry, 1928, the address was featured in advertisements as a contact address for IBSA publications.

Files of all the street directories are not all accessible, but this one below from 1925 is of particular interest. We note that there are two people living at 160 North Primrose.

So the occupant is Jos F Rutherford and his wife Mary. If any doubt that this could be our JFR, check out this cutting from March 9, 1925.

Rutherford is classed as a resident and his given address is 160 North Primrose. This information was repeated over several years. A brief look takes us up to at least 1928, where the August 6, 1928 newspaper gives his address as 180 North Primrose, which I would suggest is just a typo. Sometimes the paper calls him a Monrovian. From a 1927 newspaper:

So it was accepted locally that JFR was a resident, living 160 North Primrose Avenue. We might assume this was just winter months, but there were other times of year noted as well. Note here a visit made in August 1925.

This wasn’t a big secret. It was supported by the Golden Age magazine for March 25, 1925, pages 407-409. This reproduces two letters written by JFR in February 1925 over the George Fisher situation. One letter is a copy of what was sent directly to Fisher, and the other was written to Clayton J Woodworth, editor of Golden Age. The contents are not our subject here, although anyone with access to Golden Age can check it out, but here is the start and finish of Woodworth’s letter.

So JFR writes from Monrovia. The actual address is omitted, which was probably wise in view of the Golden Age’s wide circulation.

As was common with all Watch Tower officials (apart from perhaps CTR and Maria) their personal family affairs were kept private. But it can be reasonably established that, while Mary Rutherford lived in Monrovia and her son Malcom lived nearly, JFR also spent part of his year there throughout the 1920s. It may be that the increasing workload and the need for extra staff like stenographers contributed to the move to the larger Beth-Sarim in the 1930s. A May 27, 1942, Consolation magazine article referred to JFR and what it called his “office force” using the property at Beth-Sarim.

The family’s continued contact also shows up in May 1938 when Malcom and his wife Pauline shared part of an ocean voyage with JFR and some of his staff.

JFR died at Beth-Sarim, San Diego, in 1942. There were issues about his burial as discussed in the above mentioned Consolation magazine. One of the headlines reporting the situation still claimed JFR as an old Monrovian.

The story mentioned that Mary Rutherford “still resides here at 159 Stedman Place.”

After JFR’s death, his son Malcom with wife Pauline lived with Mary for a short time in the 1940s. They are listed as with her at the Stedman Place property in the Monrovia Street directory for 1944. When Mary died in 1962, Malcom inherited the property and he and his second wife Eleanor lived there until at least 1970.