| date |
event |
locations |
tags |
see also |
| 1916 summer |
Mr Vasily Eroshenko, a young blind Russian, visited Thailand, the first Bahá'í to do so. |
Thailand |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1924 (In the year) |
Miss Nora Lee, who became a Bahá'í in New Zealand, was the first Bahá'í to travel to Fiji, working as a nanny in Labasa from 1924 to about 1930.
Gretta Lamprill became the first Bahá'í in Tasmania in the latter part of the year. [SBR162]
In 1924 Clara and Hyde Dunn spent three months in Hobart together with two Melbourne Baha’is. Their visit attracted a small number of individuals to the Bahá'í Faith, the first of whom was a nurse, Gretta Lamprill. She was gradually joined by others in Hobart, Launceston and Devonport. The first Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Hobart was established in 1949, providing the basis for the effective functioning of the Baha’i community since that time. [Australian Baha'i Community site] |
Fiji; Tasmania; Hobart; Launceston; Devonport, Australia |
First Bahais by country or area; First travel teachers and pioneers; Clara Dunn; Hyde Dunn |
|
| 1936 (Latter half of the year) |
Mrs Randolph Bolles and her daughter Jeanne, two American Bahá'ís, (aunt and cousin of Mary Maxwell respectively), were sent to Budapest by Shoghi Effendi to open Hungary to the Faith. At the time of their departure there were seven Bahá'ís in Budapest, mostly of Jewish background. [Rebirth: Memoirs of Renée Szanto-Felbermann p103-5] |
Budapest; Hungary |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1939 8 May |
Philip and Laili June Marangella arrived in Cuba, the first Bahá’í pioneers to the country. |
Cuba |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1939 18 Sep |
John and Rosa Shaw arrived in Kingston, Jamaica, from San Francisco, the first Bahá’ís to visit the country. |
Kingston; Jamaica |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1940 (in the decade) |
The first Bahá’ís to reside in the Belgian Congo (Zaire) were Mr Rajah Ali Vahdat and Mme Marthe Molitor. |
Belgian Congo |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1940 (In the year) |
Marcia Atwater, from the United States, arrived in Santiago, Chile, as the first long-term pioneer. |
Santiago; Chile |
Marcia Atwater; First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1940 27 Dec |
Elizabeth Cheney, the ‘spiritual mother of Paraguay’, arrived in Paraguay, the first pioneer to the country. |
Paraguay |
Elizabeth Cheney; Names and titles; First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1948 (In the year) |
Pauline Campbell arrived in Bermuda, where her husband was stationed at the United States Air Force Base. She was the only Bahá’í in Bermuda until 1951. |
Bermuda |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1950 Dec |
Jalál Nakhjavání arrived in Tanganyika, the first Bahá’í pioneer to the country. [BW18:79]
History of the Bahá’í Faith in Tanzania says that Claire Gung was the 1st pioneer of the Bahá’í Faith in the country. Her biography, Claire Gung: Mother of Africa p14 confirms that she disembarked the The Warwick Castle sometime in February, 1951.
|
Tanganyika (Tanzania) |
Jalal Nakhjavani; Pioneers; Claire Gung |
|
| 1951 (In the year) |
Portuguese Bahá’ís Mr António and Mrs Ema Rocha, Mrs Guedes DeMelo Rocha and Mrs D. Laura Rodriquez, the first pioneers to Angola, took up residence in Luanda. |
Luanda; Angola |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1952 Feb |
Eric Manton and his son Terry arrived in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), the first Bahá’ís to settle in the country. They settled in the Copperbelt region from where he was able to raise a number of native believers who took the Faith to other parts of Zambia. [A Brief Account of the Bahá'í Faith in Africa Since 1953 by Nance Ororo-Robarts and Selam Ahderrom p2]
The first local convert was Christopher Mwitumwa in 1954. [Wikipedia] |
Northern Rhodesia; Zambia |
First travel teachers and pioneers; Eric Manton; Terry Manton |
|
| 1953 25 Mar |
Enayat Sohaili, an Iranian, arrived in Mozambique from India, the first Bahá’í pioneer to the country. [BW13:290]
He was imprisoned and deported in June 1953. [BW13:290]
|
Mozambique |
Enayat Sohaili; Pioneers; Persecution, Mozambique; Persecution, Arrests; Persecution; First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1953. 28 May |
In a message addressed on the eve of the 61st anniversary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, at the opening of the Ten Year Crusade, Shoghi Effendi encouraged 70 pioneers to arise to fill the goals promising that a Roll of Honour with their names would be deposited at the entrance door of the inner Sanctuary of the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh. [MBW48-49]
He further elaborated in a message addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada. See the message of the 8 June 1953. [MtC177]
See 1992 28 May. |
Haifa; BWC |
Pioneers; Knights of Bahaullah; Roll of Honour; Bahaullah, Shrine of |
|
| 1954 25 Mar |
The passing of Marion Jack (General Jack) (b. St. John, New Brunswick) at her pioneer post in Sofia, Bulgaria at the age of 87. She had been at her post since 1931. [BWNS385; Never be Afraid to Dare p. 227]
Shoghi Effendi called her ‘a shining example to pioneers of present and future generations of East and West’. [CF163]
For her obituary see BW12:674–7.
See also BFA2155; MC359.
For a photo of her gravestone see CBNOct1972p.10.
See Bahá'í Chronicles for a biography.
For a photo by the Bahá'ís of Sofia see BW5p464.
See also Marion Jack: Immortal Heroine by Jan Jasion
See CBN October1979 for tributes as well as a photo of her gravesite. |
Sofia; Bulgaria |
Marion Jack; Pioneers; In memoriam; Births and deaths; Pioneers; BWNS |
|
| 1955 2 Jun |
The first pioneer to settle in Laos, Dr Heshmat Ta’eed, arrived in the country from Thailand. |
Laos |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1956 (In the year) |
Kedarnath Pradhan, from neighbouring Sikkim, arrived in Nepal, the first pioneer to the country. [Bahá'í Faith In Nepal by Prof. Anil Sarwal] |
Nepal; Sikkim; India |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1956 Ridván |
After their pilgrimage Harlan and Elizabeth Ober travelled to South Africa where they helped form the first all-African Local Spiritual Assembly in Pretoria as had previously been request of them by the Guardian. They returned in December as pioneers. [BW13869] |
Haifa; Pretoria |
Harlan Ober; Elizabeth Ober; pioneers |
|
| 1962 Apr |
Virginia Breaks, Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Caroline Islands, moved to Saipan, the first pioneer to the area. |
Saipan |
Virginia Breaks; Knights of Bahaullah; Pioneers |
|
| 1965 (In the year) |
The first pioneer to the San Andrés and Providencia Islands settled there briefly. |
San Andres and Providencia Islands |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1965 1 Aug |
Mrs Ridván Sadeghzadeh and Mrs Parvine Djoneidi and their children arrived in Niamey, Niger, from Tihrán, the first Bahá’ís to settle in the country. |
Niamey; Niger |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1967 (In the year) |
Mr O. T. Shelton arrived on St Eustatius in the West Leeward Islands, the first pioneer to the island. |
West Leeward Islands |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1967 – 1968 |
Rhoda Vaughn arrived on Bonaire and remained for nine months, the first Bahá’í to visit the island. |
Bonaire |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1972 (In the year) |
Derek and Sally Dacey, the first resident pioneers on Montserrat in the East Leeward Islands, arrived at their pioneer post. |
East Leeward Islands |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1974 Aug |
The first Bahá’í to settle on Christmas Island, Stanley Foo, arrived from Malaysia. |
Christmas Island |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1976 to 1985 |
British pioneers Ron, Thelma, Simon and Suzanne Batchelor lived in Kathmandu, Nepal. [Thelma Batchelor on Bahá'í History UK] |
Kathmandu; Nepal |
Pioneers |
|
| 1977 May |
Paul and Jane Jensen arrived on Andros Island in the Bahamas, the first Bahá’ís to reside on the island. |
Andros Island |
First travel teachers and pioneers |
|
| 1998 29 Jul |
The passing of actor and writer O. Z. Whitehead at the age of 87 in Dublin. (b. in New York City on 18 March 1911).
His most acclaimed performance and best remembered role remained that of Al in John Ford's classic 1940 film version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.
After the World Congress in 1963 he pioneered to the Irish Republic where, among other services to the Faith, he served on the National Spiritual Assembly.
He published three volumes of pen portraits, Some Early Bahá'ís of the West (1976), Some Bahá'ís to Remember (1983), and Portraits of Some Bahá'í Women (1996).
He is remembered as a champion of the Arts. [Bahá'í Studies Review Vol8, 1998]
See Robert Weinberg's O. Z. Whitehead (1911-1998):Actor and writer that was published in Bahá'í Studies Review No 8 in 1998. |
Dublin; Ireland |
O Z Whitehead; Pioneers; NSA; Biographies (general) |
|
