Emogene Hoagg
Emogene Hoagg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 27, 1869 Copperopolis, California |
| Died | December 15, 1945 Charleston, South Carolina |
| NSA member | Bahá'í Temple Unity 1917 - 1919 |
Henrietta Emogene Martin Hoagg (September 27, 1869 - December 15, 1945) was the first Californian Bahá’í. She made several ambitious travel teaching trips.
Biography[edit]
Emogene was born in Copperopolis, California, in 1869. Her father, Dr. Martin, passed when she was young and she moved to live with her uncle's family in San Francisco when her mother remarried. She married John Ketchie Hoagg (d. 1918) when she was in her early twenties, and soon after moved to Europe to study music.
She moved to California from Europe and learnt of the Faith from the Getsinger's at the home of family friend Phoebe Hearst in 1898 and wrote a letter to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She accompanied the first Western pilgrim group to 'Akka on part of their journey, but when they reached Paris she went to Italy to resume her studies. She received a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Milan in 1899 and in November 1900 she went on a fourteen day pilgrimage herself. After her pilgrimage she spent a month in Port Said, Egypt, to study under Mirza Abu'l-Fadl. In 1903 she returned to California and assisted Helen Goodall in establishing weekly Bahá’í gatherings and in 1907 she started her own weekly study group.
In November 1907 Emogene represented the California Bahá’í community at a meeting on the construction of a Temple in Chicago. Between 1907 and 1914 she traveled extensively across America and also to Italy, Egypt, and the Holy Land. In July 1919 she set off on a teaching trip to Alaska with Marion Jack in response to the Tablets of the Divine Plan which lasted until February 1920. In 1921 she was in Italy teaching in Rome and Florence.
In 1928 Emogene moved to Geneva, Switzerland, to serve at the International Bahá’í Bureau and she served in that role until 1931 when Shoghi Effendi summoned her to Haifa to type the manuscript of the Dawn-Breakers, after which she returned to Geneva until returning to the United States in 1935 where she travel taught in the Mid-West and the South. When Shoghi Effendi gave the Seven Year Plan to the American Bahá’ís in 1940 she learnt Spanish and pioneered to Havana, Cuba.
By 1944 she had returned to the United States and she attended that years National Convention in Wilmette and the celebration of the Centenary of the Bahá’í Faith. She intended to embark on a teaching trip afterwards, but fell ill and returned to her home in Charleston, South Carolina, instead and worked on a compilation from the Writings while bedridden. She passed away in 1945.
Shoghi Effendi sent the following cable after her passing:
"Deeply grieved passing (of) staunch, exemplary pioneer (of the) Faith, Emogene Hoagg. Record (of) national (and) international services unforgettable. Reward (in) Abha Kingdom assured (and) abundant."
Publications[edit]
- 1938 - Conditions of Existence: Servitude, Prophethood, Deity[1]
- 1938 - The Three Worlds: Introductory to the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh[1]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- Obituary published in Bahá’í World, Volume 10, pp 520-526
