- 1876-02-14 — Birth of Keith Ransom-Kehler, Hand of the Cause and the first American Bahá'í martyr, in Kentucky.
- 1932-04-00 — Keith Ransom-Kehler travelled to Persia at the request of the Guardian where she served for sixteen months before she fell ill. She entered from the Western frontier and started by visiting the friends of Kirmansháh, Hamadán and Qazvín. After staying some time in Iṣfahán and recovering from sickness she travelled to Adhirbáyján. She then made another journey through the East and North, and the friends of Khurásán and Mázindarán and Gilán had the bounty of her presence. After spending time in Tehran where she made seven attempts to sent petitions to the Shah requesting that he lift the ban on Bahá'í literature and the restriction on holding Bahá'í meetings, she travelled to the village of Hasan-Ábád near Qom, then to Qom, Kashán, the village of Árán, the town of Jaushiqán and back to Kashán. She departed on the 5th of October for Isfahán and arrived the next day and continued with the program arranged for her. She fell it with chills and high fever and was confined to bed on the 10th of October. She was constantly attended by Najmiyyih Khánum ’Alá’í, the graduate nurse who had been her Ṭihrán hostess. In accordance with the Guardian’s instructions, this lady and her husband, Raḥmatu’lláh Khán ’Alá’í, had placed themselves entirely at Keith's disposition during her sojourn in this country. She passed away on the 23rd of October 1933 and was diagnosed as having smallpox with a complication of dysentery. [BW5p23-28]
entered Peria from the western frontie
- 1932-06-10 — The American National Spiritual Assembly addresseed a petition to the Sháh of Iran requesting that the ban on Bahá'í literature be removed and asking that its representative, Mrs Keith Ransom-Kehler, be recognized to present in person the appeal. [BW5:390–1]
- 1932-08-15 —
Keith Ransom-Kehler met the Iranian Court Minister Taymur Tash. [BW5:392]
- She presented the American petition to him asking that the ban on Bahá'í literature in Iran be lifted and received assurances from him that this would be affected. [BW5:392; PH46]
- She made seven successive petitions addressed to the Sháh of Persia. [GPB345]
- For the history and unsuccessful outcome of this effort see BW5:391–8.
- 1933-10-23 —
Keith Ransom-Kehler died of smallpox in Isfahán after a year of intensive travel around Iran. [BW5:24, 398; BN No 80 January 1934 p11]
- For her obituary see BW5:389–410.
- She was buried near the grave of the King of Martyrs. [BW5:398]
- For a picture of her grave see BW5:399.
- Shoghi Effendi named her America's 'first and distinguished martyr'. [BW5:398] As well as "the first Western martyr on Persian soil" . [DND46]
- Shoghi Effendi elevated her to the rank of Hand of the Cause on 28 October, 1933. [BW5:398, MoCxxii]
- See message from the Guardian dated 30 October 1933.
- For her mission in Iran see BW5:23–7.
- See also PP306–7.
- See Other People Other Places by Marzieh Gail (pages 176-181) for a pen portrait of Keith Ransom-Kehler.
- See FMH51-52]
- See Bahá'í Chronicles.
- Photo of her grave. [BW9p68]
- 1935-11-24 —
The passing of Dr. Howard Luxmoore Carpenter (b. 1906, d. 24 November 1935). He was buried at the Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, California. [Find a grave]
- A graduate of the Stanford Medical School in 1932.
- He married Mardiyyih Nabil (later Marzieh Gail) in 1929, and in 1932 he and his wife left San Francisco for Vienna, where he took a medical course, and afterward at the Guardian's direction traveled through Central Europe and the Balkans. With Martha Root in Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, he then spent five weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria, assisting Miss Marion Jack, after which he stopped briefly in Saloniki and went on to Tirana, Albania, to visit Refo Chapary. He then left for Haifa, where he stayed three weeks on his way to Tihran.
- In Iran, notwithstanding the efforts of the Assembly, he was prevented for more than one year from obtaining a medical license. His health failed, and he was bedridden for many months. At last his physical condition improved, he resumed activities as a member of the Unity of the East and West Committee, and the authorities granted him a license to practise medicine. At this time he was stricken with paralysis. He lay seven months in a hospital, after which Mr. and Mrs. Rahmat 'Alá'í invited him to their home, surrounding him with the same loving care which they had given Keith Ransom-Kehler the year before. His doctors advised a return to the United States as his only hope for recovery; he braved the long journey across the desert by motor, the presence of the 'Ala'is, who escorted him to Haifa, helping him to survive it.
- After nine days in Haifa, during which the Guardian visited him daily, he took a ship for New York where he was greeted by the National Spiritual Assembly, and then left by way of the Panama Canal for San Francisco. Here he had recourse to the best medical authorities, but was pronounced incurable. He passed away November 24, 1935 . He is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Berkeley. The Bahá'í service held for him was conducted by Leroy Ioas of San Francisco; Bahá'ís of Berkeley, Oakland, Geyserville, San Francisco and Santa Paula were present, and the words of Bahá'u'lláh on immortality radiated such power as to efface all thought of death. [BW6 p491-493]
- See Shoghi Effendi's tribute to him where he said:
Next to the late Mrs. Ransom-Kehler he may, indeed, be well considered as the foremost American believer who has, in the last few years, been assisted in rendering invaluable help to the Persian believers in their efforts for the establishment of the Administration in their country… .
["Uncompiled Published Letters"]
- 1944-01-00 — A Memorial to Keith Ransom-Kehler was erected in Isfahan to
commemorate her work in Iran. She was the second American Bahá'í to die in Iran while serving the Cause. See picture. [BN No 169 Jul 1944 p8
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