Delaware
Delaware |
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| Location of Delaware
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| History: Firsts |
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| - | Local Assembly | 1943, Wilmington |
Delaware is a state of the United States of America.
History[edit]
Delaware was mentioned by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed on March 29, 1916, calling on the American Bahá’í community to establish a community in the state:
"In the Southern States of the United States, the friends are few, that is, in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Consequently you must either go yourselves or send a number of blessed souls to those states, so that they may guide the people to the Kingdom of Heaven.[1]
In October 1916 the address of Joseph Hannen, who had received the Tablet, was published in Star of the West so he could coordinate Bahá’ís who desired to teach in the state.[2]
In 1938 Orcella Rexford visited Wilmington, Delaware, and helped organized the first Bahá’í public meeting to be held in the state which was attended by twenty and consisted of a talk given by Mason Remey.[3] In March 1939 Shoghi Effendi noted that there were no Bahá’í residents of Delaware in a cable and advised the American Bahá’í community to send pioneers to open the state.[4][5] Allah-Kuli Kalantar and his wife Emilie had pioneered to Delaware by April 1939 and were commended in a joint cable from Shoghi Effendi addressed to all pioneers who had arisen that year.[6]
As of 1943 there were eleven Bahá’ís in Wilmington all of whom were pioneers,[7] with the Local Spiritual Assembly forming that year.[8] One of the pioneers, Cynthia Barnard, established a friendship with Edgar Olson introducing him to the Faith and he declared, becoming the first Bahá’í of Delaware, in April 1944. Cynthia and Edgar then married in August 1944 and it was recognized as a Bahá’í marriage by the state of Delaware. Shoghi Effendi had their marriage certificate hung in his room in the Mansion of Bahji.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, US Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1993, pp 11-12
- ↑ Star of the West, Vol. 7, p 113
- ↑ Baha'i News (1938). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 116, Pg(s) 6. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 123, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 124, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1939). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 126, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1943). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 161, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1943). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 163, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 900. View as PDF.
