Early Life, Family and Training Johan Ericson was born on 17 October 1849 in the Karlshamn church parish, Sweden. His early years were shaped by a family in transition; his father, Anders Eriksson, was a woodcarver who emigrated to America when Johan was only four years old. He was raised by his mother, Johanna, née Petersson, in a household where the practicalities of craft and the realities of separation were part of the domestic la…