Edward Ruppers

Edward Ruppers (1870 - September 22, 1956)[1][2] was an American Bahá’í who was the earliest recorded Bahá’í to live in Arkansas and the first pioneer to Phoenix, Arizona.

Background[edit]

Ruppers married at some point to Amanda Nelson, daughter of Ingre Ana Nelson, and both his wife and mother-in-law were also Bahá’ís.[3] They had a daughter, Nina Virginia Ruppers, in 1908 who also became a Bahá’í and was an active member of the Chicago community.[4]

Ruppers and his wife attended several talks given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Chicago when He visited the city in 1912,[5] and Ruppers was recorded as a Bahá’í living in Genoa, Miller County, Arkansas in 1913.[6]

In 1917 Ruppers and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona,[6] and they were the first permanent Bahá’í residents to live in the city.[5] In 1918 the Ruppers began hosting travel teachers and formed a Bahá’í study group,[7][8] and in the 1930's Ruppers served as a delegate of the Phoenix community to the Bahá’í Convention of the United States and Canada.[9]

Ruppers wife passed away in Phoenix in 1937,[10] and he also passed in Phoenix in 1956.[11]

References[edit]

  1. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102487058/edward-ruppers
  2. Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 309, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  3. Baha'i News (1931). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 50, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  4. Baha'i News Letter (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 37, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  5. 5.0 5.1 https://bahaisofphoenix.org/history/
  6. 6.0 6.1 https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/bah%C3%A1%C3%ADs-4312/
  7. Baha'i News (September, 1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 44, Pg(s) 5. View as PDF.
  8. Baha'i News (1931). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 50, Pg(s) 7. View as PDF.
  9. Baha'i News (1937). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 108, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  10. Baha'i News (1937). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 112, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  11. Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 309, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.

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