Fourteen year old Edith Magee of London was sent by her parents to visit and aunt and uncle in Chicago, Mr and Mrs Guy Magee. He was the editor of the Chicago Tribune and had been in close contact with many of the leading figures of the Parliament of Religions. He was attracted by the quotation of E G Browne in the presentation of Dr Henry Jessup and further investigation led him to Ibrahim Kheirullah who was gathering a class of interested inquirers.
Edith's mother had raised her two daughters to share her passion to look for religious truth. Upon learning of the Faith Edith hurried home to share her findings with her mother and other relatives. Mrs Magee left immediately for Chicago, found Kheirullah and enrolled in his first class. She returned to London a Bahá'í and with her two daughters, Edith and Harriet formed the first Bahá'í group in Canada.
In 1902 Edit moved to New York to study music. When her father John Magee passed away her mother and sister Harriet followed her. All three women remained steadfast believers, active in the New York and Green Acre communities. Harriet became a friend of Abdu'l-Bahá's translator Ahmad Sohrab and his letters to her after His departure from America have become a valuable account of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's movements and activities.
Edit Magee became Mrs Edith Englis and spent her last years in Alexandria, Virginia with her son and daughter-in-law. [CBN September 1966 p6; OBBC1; BFA2p156]
• See Bahá'í Chronicles.
• See BC Vol 2 No 2 June 1979; or CBN No 200 September 1966 p6.

First public reference in North America to the Bahá'í Faith.
• Reference was made to it in a paper entitled `The Religious Mission of the English Speaking Nations' by Rev. Henry H. Jessup, a retired missionary from north Syria, read by Rev George A. Ford at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. [AB63–4; BBD2412; BBR57; BFA1:323; BW2:230; GPB256; SBBH1:76, 88, 202]
• See AB63–4, BW2:169 for text.
• The Magee family of London, Ester and daughters Edith and Harriet heard of the Faith for the first time. [OBBC1]

Following his attendance at the Intercontinental Conference in Wilmette Hand of the Cause Furutan made a tour of Canada with an interpreter, Mr M Anvar. They visited several communities in Western Canada and attended the Feast of Grandeur in Edmonton. [CBN No 41 June, 1953 p3]
• Visits were also made to Winnipeg,London, Ottawa, Toronto, and Kingston and others. [CBN No 42 July, 1954 p5]
• The tour concluded in the Maritimes with visits to Moncton and lastly Saint John. [CBN No 43 August, 1953 p2]

Hand of the Cause John Robarts arrived in Canada to begin his extensive tour of Canada. He had been sent to Canada by the Hands in the Holy Land because the Guardian had been concerned about the slow progress in the objectives of the 10-year plan in Canada The first stop was in Moncton where a three-day conference was held with Mr. Robarts. [CBN No 98 March, 1958 p2]
• He had made a stop in Iceland en route to Gander where he met with Bruce Matthew and Bill Howell. [CBN No 99 April 1958 p7]
• He shared with the friends his pioneering experience in Africa, the meeting of the Hands in London and in the Holy Land after the passing of the Guardian as well of the dedication of the Temple in Kampala that he attended just prior to his departure for Canada.
• Mr. Robarts focused on the revitalization of the believers and constantly emphasized the power of prayer in beseeching assistance in winning the goals with special emphasis on the Prayer for Canada, the Tablet of Ahmad and the Long Obligatory Prayer. [CBN No 126 July 1960 p4]
• He spent several weeks visiting communities in Quebec and Ontario, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, London, Ottawa and others. [CBN No99 April, 1958 p7]
• In Saskatoon he performed the marriage of Ericka Janzen and Tom Gossen. [CBN No 100 May, 1958 p3]

Based on previous experience of a proclamation to Christian clergy in Hamilton and consultation with Winston Evans at the Summer School, the Promulgation Committee launched a proclamation directed to both clerics and the layman. Packages were sent to Christians in Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Saltfleet, Burlington, Dundas, Campbellville, Ancaster, Georgetown, London, St. Thomas, Ingersoll and Forest. The pamphlet "The Reality of the Return of Christ" was included in all packages with the Catholic priests receiving a copy of the tablet that Bahá'u'lláh addressed to Pope Pius IX and the Protestant clergy were sent the pamphlet "The Lord of the New Age". About 1,400 to 1,500 were sent. Advertisements were placed in the local newspapers announcing that the clergy had received this material and that a speaker would be coming soon to speak about the theme, "Christ and Bahá'u'lláh". The only negative reaction reported was from the town of Forest where the Faith was denounced from the pulpit. [CBN No 107 December 1958 p2; UC80-81]
• Note that Shoghi Effendi had encouraged such a proclamation in the British community. UD379 refers.

He was survived by his wife Dr. Marion Woodman, an internationally-known author and psychoanalyst, who passed away in 2018. [CBNS 27 March 2014]

A film called Rebel Angel was made about their marriage.

For nearly forty years Mr Woodman was Professor in the Department of English at the University of Western Ontario, where he taught Romantic literature, until his retirement in 1989. In 1993 he received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Keats-Shelley Association of America.

His publications include: The Apocalyptic Vision in the Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley and a book about celebrated Canadian poet and fellow-professor at the University of Western Ontario, James Reaney.

Mr Woodman contributed several articles to The Journal of Bahá'í Studies.