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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.
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.
