Hájí Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí, a cousin of the Báb, lived in Shanghai during this period. This is the first record of a Bábí or Bahá'í living in China. [PH24]
• From 1870 he lived in Hong Kong dealing as a merchant and was joined by his brother, Hájí Mírzá Muhammad Husayn. [PH24; Video Early history of the Bahá'í Faith in China 2min56sec]

The ship that had delivered the exiles to 'Akká carried on and Mírzá Yahyá arrived in Cyprus with his entire family but without a single disciple or even a servant. [BBR306]
• Also exiled to Cyprus were four loyal Bahá'ís and they were:
  Mishkín-Qalam (Áqá Hussain Isfahání)
  Mirzá 'Alíy-i-Sayyáh-i-Maraghih'í (Mullá Ádí-Guzal)
  Áqá 'Abdu'l-Ghaffár
  Áqá Muḥammad-Báqir (Qahvih-chiy-i Mahallátí) (coffee-maker)
• With their arrival Cyprus became the first island in the Mediterranean to receive the Faith.
• See also GPB 182 and AB285, 523.

Thornton Chase became a Bahá'í in Chicago. [BBD53; BFA1:35–6]
• For some time before he heard of the Bahá'í Faith, he had been a follower of the noble and mystical teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. [SEBW3]
• He was designated by `Abdu'l-Bahá as the first American believer. [BBD53; GPB257]
• See BFA1:35 for his own account of how he became a Bahá'í.
• See BFA1:33–7 for other Americans who became Bahá'ís around the same time.
• He was given the name Thábit (Steadfast) by `Abdu'l-Bahá. [BBD53; GPB257]
• He had been invited to join the Hearst pilgrimage in 1898 but was unable to go to the Holy Land until 1907. [AY61]

Ethel Jenner Rosenberg accepted the Bahá'í Faith, the first English woman to become a Bahá'í in her native land. [AB73–4; ER39; GPB260; SBR20, 33; SEBW55-64, SCU17]
• For her biography see Rob Weinberg's, Ethel Jenner Rosenberg.
• She visited 'Abdu'l-Bahá several times in the first decade of the century. [SCU17]

Thomas Breakwell, an Englishman living in the United States, learned of the Bahá'í Faith in Paris from May Bolles. Within three days he became a believer and immediately wrote to `Abdu'l-Bahá. [AB74–5; BW7:707]
• For May Bolles' own account see BW7:707–11.
• He is the first male British Bahá'í. [BFA2:154]
• He is designated by Shoghi Effendi the `first English believer'. [GPB259]
• He is the first Western Bahá'í to pay Huqúqu'lláh. [BW7:710]
• See also AB74–80; BFA2:154; SEBW6572.

A Bahá'í group was established in Germany soon after the arrival of the first Bahá'í in the country, Dr. Edwin Fischer, in Stuttgart. He was dentist and a returned emigrant to the United States. German-born Alma Knobloch also became a Bahá'í in the United States 1903, before Fischer, arrived in Germany in 1907. [BBRSM:107, 219; BWNS390]
• The German Baha'i Community under National Socialism: by Harry Liedtke says he arrived in 1904.

Margaret Stevenson was the first believer in New Zealand. [New Zealand Bahá'í News, May 1997]
• See 11 February, 1941 for biographical information.
• For a photo see Encyclopedia of New Zealand
• She was the first New Zealand Bahá'i, and for 10 years from 1912, the only one. When the first New Zealand Bahá'i group formed in 1924, Stevenson was elected its president. Her two sisters also joined the faith. Stevenson remained secretary of the Bahá'i Spiritual Assembly in New Zealand until her passing in 1941.

The first Chinese Bahá'í in China, Chen Hai An (Harold A. Chen), became a Bahá'í while studying at the University of Chicago through the efforts of Dr Zia Baghdádí. He returned to Shanghai that same year. [PH29-30; Video Early history of the Bahá'í Faith in China 6min40sec]
• PH30 says this was 1919 but this is clearly a typographical error.
• He returned to China in December 1916.

Martha Root arrived in Argentina, the first recorded visit of a Bahá'í to this country. [MR101]
• She remained in Buenos Aires until 4 October. [MR101]
• See MR101-2 and MRHK61-5 for her teaching work in Argentina.
• See MR103-6 and MRHK66-9 for her journey over the Andes on a mule.

Hyde and Clara Dunn arrived in Samoa enroute to Australia, the first Bahá'ís to visit the islands.
• For a history of the development of the Faith in Australia and in New Zealand, from 1920 when the Hydes arrived until 1947 when the National Spiritual Assembly initiated a systematic teaching campaign, see Outpost of a World Religion: The Bahá'í Faith in Australia, 1920-1947 by Graham Hassall in Bahá'ís in the West SBBH Vol 14 pp201-226.
• It is also available on Bahai-Library.com.

The first Argentineans to become Bahá'ís, Hermann Grossmann and his sister Elsa Grossman, accepted the Faith in Leipzig in 1920.
• They were born in Argentina and emigrated to Germany in 1909.
• Dr Grossman heard of the Faith at a public meeting given by Harlan and Grace Ober at the Theosophical Society. [BW13:869]

Leonora Holsapple Armstrong, the first Bahá'í pioneer in Latin America, arrived in Rio de Janeiro. She had departed New York on the SS Vasari on the 15th of January. [Baha'iBlog]
• See a talk by Kristine Ascunsion Young, the great-grand niece of Leonora Holsapple Armstrong. The discourse begins at about 2:30.

Oswald Whitaker, a Sydney optometrist, and Euphemia Eleanor `Effie' Baker, a photographer, become Bahá'ís, the first Australians to accept the Faith. [BW14:320; SBR160-1, BW2p129]
• In the 1930s Effie Baker travelled to Persia to take photographs of historical sites. [BW14:320]
• See SETPE1p105-107 for her contribution while serving in Haifa.
• For Effie Baker's obituary see BW14:320-1.

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]

Agnes Carey was the first person from Pretoria to become a Bahá'í and served as a member of the Local assembly from 1925 to 1929.

Orcella Rexford and her husband Dr Gayne Gregory (the first to accept the Faith in Alaska) went to Haifa on pilgrimage and were technically the first from Alaska to do so. They were in the process of moving from Alaska to the Continental USA. [SETPE1p112-113 ]
• See BW11p495-498 for for details of the life of Orella Rexford.

Mr Refo Capari (Chapary), the first Albanian Bahá'í, arrived in Tirana, Albania from New York where his family had immigrated.
• He became a Bahá'í in America some time before 1931.
• In 1983 account were found in the International Archives of the pioneering work done by Mr. Capari. He had stayed in Albania and died alone and of starvation. [BW20p198]

Renée Szanto-Felbermann became a Bahá'í, the first to accept the Faith in Hungary. She was considered the first person to accept the Faith by some notwithstanding the events of 1913. [BW19:633]
• See also Renée Szanto-Felbermann, Rebirth: The Memoirs of Szanto-Felbermann p104.
• This document prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í Community of Hungary says that Mr. Arminius Vámbéry is the first believer in Hungary. See www.bahai.hu
• See BW5p329 for the testament written by Professor Vámbéry and published in the Egyptian Gazette September 24th, 1913.

The first Finnish Bahá'í, Pastor Väinö Rissanen, accepted the Faith. He was taught by Miss Josephine Kruka [BW8:935; BW17:129]
• For a letter from him about Finland see BW8:936.

Another source says that Sra. Angela Ochoa Velazquez was the first believer. [The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America: Some Remembrances by Artemus Lamb]

Date may be 1938.

The first believer was Sra. Maria Teresa Marten de Lopez. [The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America: Some Remembrances by Artemus Lamb]

María Teressa Martín de López (Irizarry), from Puerto Rico, became a Bahá'í in the Dominican Republic while on a visit. She was the first Puerto Rican Bahá'í and the first person to become a Bahá'í in the Dominican Republic.
• For the story of her life see BW8:631–42.

May Bolles Maxwell (b. 14 January 1940 in Englewood, NJ) passed away in Buenos Aires. [BBD153; TG49]

Shoghi Effendi called her "the spiritual mother of Canada" and Montreal the "mother city of Canada". [OBCC35]

• Shoghi Effendi awarded her the honour of a 'martyr's death' and designated her as a Disciple of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [BW8:631; MA38]
• She was the first Bahá'í on European soil and the "mother" of both the French and the Canadian Bahá'í communities. [PP149]
• For her "In Memoriam" and tribute written by Marion Holley see BW8p631-642.
• Hooper Dunbar quoted Shoghi Effendi in his cable to the friends in Iran announcing her passing:
  
  May Maxwell, the severed teacher firebrand of the love of God and spreader of the fragrances of God Mrs Maxwell, forsook her native land and hastened to the most distant countries out of love for her Master and yearning to sound the call to the Cause of her Lord and her inspiration, until she ascended to the highest summit attaining the rank of martyrdom in the capital of the Argentine. The furthermost boundary the countenances of paradise invoke blessings upon her in the glorious apex saying, may she enjoy with healthy relish the cup that is full and brimming over with the wine of the love of God for the like of this should the travaillers travail. Inform all the friends of the announcement of this mighty victory. [A talk] given by Mr Dunbar 28:08]
• Shoghi Effendi asked her husband, Sutherland Maxwell, to design her tomb, which was to be a 'historic centre' for 'pioneer Bahá'í activity'. [BW8:642]
• For an account of the erection of the monument to her see PSBW83–6.
• Haik Kevorkian's family had come to Argentina from Syria in 1937. When Mrs Maxwell arrived he contacted her by phone just before her fatal heart attack. After her passing, he devoted himself to caring for her grave. [KoB225]

The first four people to become Bahá'ís in Costa Rica accepted the Faith after Gayle Woolson and Amelia Ford from the United States arrived in Puerto Limón on 29 March 1940.
• The first to enrol was Raul Contreras, followed by his cousin Guido Contreras, and by José Joaquin Ulloa and then Felipe Madrigal.

Luis Carlo Nieto became the first Bahá'í in Colombia.
• He soon left the Faith and Aura Sanchez, who became a Bahá'í in 1941, is considered the first Colombian believer.

She passed away in Bogota on the 15th of August 1986. See her obituary at BW20p838.

Yvonne Cuellar, a French woman, became a Bahá'í in Bolivia.
• Although Marina del Prado was the first to become a Bahá'í, on 2 February 1941, she did not remain active, so Yvonne Cuellar is recognized as the first Bahá'í in Bolivia. She was called by Shoghi Effendi 'Mother of Bolivia'.
• For the story of her life see BW19:619–22.

Dr Malcolm King, a Jamaican who had become a Bahá'í in the United States, introduced the Faith to his homeland. [SDSCp425 note 2]
• He held meetings at 190 Orange Street in Kingston. By 1943, the people he had taught founded a spiritual assembly in Kingston. [The Gleaner]

Rita Marshall, the first person native to St Vincent in the Caribbean to become a Bahá'í, accepted the Faith while in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• Her husband, Ernest Marshall, became a Bahá'í in November 1946.

Léa Nys became a Bahá'í in Belgium, the first Belgian to accept the Faith after World War Two.
• She is considered the first Belgian Bahá'í. She served in the first National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium elected in 1962 and served until 1965. [Bahaipedia]
• See her "In Memoriam".

Mariette Bolton of Australia visited New Caledonia, the first Bahá'í to visit the islands. [BW15p437]
• During her visit Mlle Françoise Feminier became a Bahá'í, the first person in New Caledonia to accept the Faith.

Mrs Meherangiz Munsiff, the wife of an Indian diplomat in London, arrived in Madagascar and was acknowledged as the first Bahá'í in the country. [BWNS288]
• There was one other Bahá'í in Madagascar before Mrs Munsiff but he was not a Bahá'í in good standing.
• Suffering ill health, Mrs. Munsiff left in January 1954 a day after Danile Randrianarivo, 29, accepted the Faith, becoming the first Malagasy Bahá'í.

Enoch Olinga arrived in Victoria (Limbé) and was named a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the British Cameroons. [BW13:449]
• The first Cameroonian to become a Bahá'í in British Cameroon was a youth, Jacob Tabot Awo.
• The first Cameroonian adult to become a Bahá'í was Enoch Ngompek of the Bassa tribe.
• The first Cameroonian woman to become a Bahá'í was Esther Obeu, the wife of David Tanyi.

The arrival of Knights of Bahá'u'lláh Elena (Marsella) and Roy Fernie in Kiribati (Gilbert Islands). They had come from the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama. [BWNS301, BW13:452]
• They had left their home in Panama and their service on the National Spiritual Assembly of Panama to pioneer. They arrived on the island of Abaiang (aka Charlotte Island, of the Gilbert Islands), on March 4, 1954 and for this service they were named Knights of Baha'u'llah. About the first of June 1954, former Catholic seminarian and mission teacher Peter Kanere Koru became the first convert on the island.
• Their teaching work brought opposition from the Roman Catholic priest who told his congregation not to attend the Bahá'í meetings. He began to criticize them in the Roman Catholic newsletter and actually contributed to the knowledge of the Faith because the newsletter had a wide distribution.
• The priest persisted in his opposition by informing his bishop who asked the government to send the Fernies away and to send Peter Kanere, a native Bahá'í, back to his native island of Tabiteuea. At the time, to be a registered religious organization required a membership of at least 100 believers so the government-approved sending the Fernies away however, in a single night some 300 people registered. A certificate of registration was issued on the 24th of September, 1955, but not before they managed to exile Roy Fernie. Elena continued the teaching work on her own and was responsible for firmly establishing the Faith on Abaiang.
• Meanwhile, Peter Kanere, back on his home island, managed to teach a Protestant minister who was under discipline of his church at the time. Together they spread the Faith on Tabiteuea. [Island Churches: Challenge and Change by Makisi Finau page 101]
• For more details on the life of Roy Fernie see Bahaipedia.
• See also The Origins of the Bahá'í Faith in the Pacific Islands: The Case of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands by Graham Hassall.
• And Bahá'í Faith in the Asia Pacific: Issues and Prospects also by Graham Hassall.
• Elena Maria Marsella published The Quest for Eden in 1966.

The first person to become a Bahá'í in Nassau, Bahamas, Winfield Small, a young police officer from Barbados, enrolled.
• Mr Small opened Barbados to the Faith.

The first person to become a Bahá'í in Tonga, Harry Terepo, born in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, enrolled.
• He was a teacher, interpreter and guide living in Ohonua on the island of Eua.

The first indigenous Samoan to become a Bahá'í, Sa'ialala Tamasese, enrolled.
• He was a member of one of the three royal families of Samoa. [BINS, No. 100, 1 MARCH 1979, p. 1]

The first person to become a Bahá'í in the Bahamas, Molly Newbold, enrolled.
• As she did not remain a Bahá'í, Arnold Wells, a tinsmith who became a Bahá'í on 20 April, is regarded as the first Bahá'í. Christine Thompson, who owned a small fruit and vegetable shop, and Frank Ferguson, who owned a gas station, also enrolled on 20 April.

The Faith was brought to St Vincent for the first time by Shirley Jackson, who returned to the island the day after having become a Bahá'í while on a visit to her native home in Grenada.
• Later in the year she enrolled the first Bahá'ís on St Vincent.

He passed. on 20 June 1967. His Memoriam [BW14p369]

Ivor Ellard, a British resident of the United States, arrived Dominica, the first pioneer to the island.
• Two days later William Nedden settled on the island.

The passing of Renée Szanto-Felbermann (b 21 June, 1900, d. 28 February, 1984) in Freiburg, Germany. She is considered the first to declare her faith in Hungary. [BW19p633]
• She is the author of The Memoirs of Renée Szanto-Felbermann, published in London by the Bahá'í Publishing Trust. It is the autobiography of a woman of Jewish heritage who was the first Hungarian Bahá'í. Particularly interesting is the period as Jewish-Bahá'í in Hungary during the Nazi era. [Collins7.2521]
• See the article The Baha'i Faith: Banned by the Nazis and the Communists by Caroline Fowler on Bahá'í Teachings.org.

The passing of Meherangiz Munsiff in London (b. 23 November, 1923 Bombay, India) Born into a Bahá'í family she travelled in India with Martha Root at the age of 14 years. She was appointed Knight of Bahá'u'lláh for the French Cameroons. In addition she visited more than 150 countries to teach and assist in the development of Bahá'í communities and was known as a lecturer and an activist among the international humanitarian community. [BW99-00p308-309]
• An autobiography Lifeline:A Life of Prayer and Service as Experienced by Meherangiz Munsiff, Knight of Baha'u'llah, was published by George Ronald Publishers in October of 2022. It was written by Meherangiz Munsiff, Jyoti Munsiff (her daughter), and Pixie MacCallum.

May Bolles Maxwell (b. 14 January 1940 in Englewood, NJ) passed away in Buenos Aires. [BBD153; TG49]
• Shoghi Effendi called her "the spiritual mother of Canada" Montreal "the mother city of Canada. [OBCC35]
• Shoghi Effendi awarded her the honour of a 'martyr's death' and designated her as a Disciple of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. [BW8:631; MA38]
• She was the first Bahá'í on European soil and the "mother" of both the French and the Canadian Bahá'í communities. [PP149]
• For her "In Memoriam" and tribute written by Marion Holley see BW8p631-642.
• Hooper Dunbar quoted Shoghi Effendi in his cable to the friends in Iran announcing her passing:
  
  May Maxwell, the severed teacher firebrand of the love of God and spreader of the fragrances of God Mrs Maxwell, forsook her native land and hastened to the most distant countries out of love for her Master and yearning to sound the call to the Cause of her Lord and her inspiration, until she ascended to the highest summit attaining the rank of martyrdom in the capital of the Argentine. The furthermost boundary the countenances of paradise invoke blessings upon her in the glorious apex saying, may she enjoy with healthy relish the cup that is full and brimming over with the wine of the love of God for the like of this should the travaillers travail. Inform all the friends of the announcement of this mighty victory. [A talk] given by Mr Dunbar 28:08]
• Shoghi Effendi asked her husband, Sutherland Maxwell, to design her tomb, which was to be a 'historic centre' for 'pioneer Bahá'í activity'. [BW8:642]
• For an account of the erection of the monument to her see PSBW83–6.