Louisa Ruddiman

Louisa Ruddiman

Louisa Emily Ruddiman was born Louisa Emily Chandler around 1841-3 in Michigan. Her father was dead or left the family by 1850 while her mother lived on with Ruddiman into 1910. After several marriages Louisa married John C. Ruddiman in December 1890 and they, with her mother, lived near Goblesville, Michigan. There George Kheiralla stayed for a time around 1893 before he went to Chicago and developed his classes on the Bahá'í Faith as he understood it and out of which Thornton Chase became known as the first Bahá'í of the occident. However Ruddiman had had some understanding of the religion and affirmed her belief with a letter to 'Abdu'l-Bahá before 1902 and had positive contact with the Getsingers in the 1890s. It is possible she was the first Bahá'í woman of the West. She exchanged several letters with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and others and received tablets in turn one of which is well known. She died in April 1911 while visiting in Chicago where she was buried.

Biography

Born and raised

Louisa Emily Ruddiman was born Louisa Emily Chandler about 1841-3. Her mother, known as Elisha in 1850 and Eliza J. Church in 1910, was born in Canada, and her father in New York.

In 1850 Chandler was listed living with the family. The 1860 Census had similar information.

Marriages

Louisa had married George H. Starkweather who served in 6th Michigan Infantry who fought at Baton Rouge and Port Hudson but was listed as a widow with the maiden name Chandler by 1866. He had served in company G. In May Louisa Starkweather married Edward Hutton in Michigan in a civil ceremony, however 11 years later in March 1877 Louisa divorced John Anderson. It remains unknown when Edward Hutton left the picture and when John Anderson entered it. But by January 1883 Louisa Anderson was traveling with John Ruddiman visiting Kansas City from Michigan, and by December 1890 Louisa E. Starkweather married John C. Ruddiman. His parents were born in Scotland. They were living with mother widow Eliza J. Church on a farm owned by Church near Goblesville, Michigan.

Encounter with the Bahá'í Faith

The Ruddimans met the Getsingers in the 1890s and they believed George Kheiralla had stayed with the Ruddimans when he was in Michigan before he moved to Chicago, circa 1893. Louisa later wrote that she had had a knowledge of the Faith but it had many gaps and misunderstandings - certainly Kheiralla had not even developed his classes, problematic as they were, yet. Nevertheless it was such that she later joined into the Bahá'í community and exchanged many letters with 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Letters and Tablets

The first letter identified from Ruddiman to 'Abdu'l-Bahá was replied to in April 1902 with a tablet in which he says: "…Be dilated in thy heart by the gentle breeze which emanates from the garden of Eternal Life and enkindled in the Tree of Sinai in the center of Paradise…".

A 1906 property map of Pine Grove Township - see near top left of section 29 for the mother's name.

Another tablet came in January 1904:

I have considered thy writing, which indicates brightness of heart and the love of God. Blessed art thou for having been thus favored and for having attained to guidance. You have asked me two questions… (if Prophets are One how are they distinct?) Figuratively speaking, the Father is the center of the brain and the Son is the center of the heart; the rest of the Porphets are members and parts.…Superstition hath somewhat over come her (mother)… Thus will the imagined Satan leave her. [She] has a form of obsession; therefore, you may not heed her sayings.

In March 1904 there was a letter from Thornton Chase to Ruddiman still living in Goblesville, Michigan, noting she was offering assistance to Bahá'ís and he described `Abdu'l-Bahá's station using biblical verses and Bahá'í titles. The next tablet from 'Abdu'l-Bahá comes in April 1905 "…To enter the Kingdom is easy, but to remain firm and constant is difficult…". In September Ruddiman wrote a letter to the House of Spirituality, the precursor to the local assembly, in Chicago that the family had moved to Pine Grove Mills, Michigan. In June 1906 Ruddiman received the tablet from 'Abdu'l-Bahá including the prayer about seeking visions at midnight, and advising her to calm her mother. This prayer is commonly included in collections of prayer:

O seeker of Truth! If thou desirest that God may open thine eye, thou must supplicate unto God, pray to and commune with Him at midnight, saying:

O Lord, I have turned my face unto Thy kingdom of oneness and am immersed in the sea of Thy mercy. O Lord, enlighten my sight by beholding Thy lights in this dark night, and make me happy by the wine of Thy love in this wonderful age. O Lord, make me hear Thy call, and open before my face the doors of Thy heaven, so that I may see the light of Thy glory and become attracted to Thy beauty.

Verily, Thou art the Giver, the Generous, the Merciful, the Forgiving.

Last years

In the April 1910 Census the Ruddimans were listed as married and living in Pine Grove, Michigan. She had been mother to 3 children who had all died before 1910. In November Ruddiman had contributed a scholarship for a child to attend the girls Bahá'í school in Persia. By December her mother died and she was given a Bahá'í funeral officiated by Charles Greenleaf was invited afterwards to give a talk on the religion.

By March 1911 a shipment of books from Ruddiman had arrived at the girls school in Persia. However she died suddenly April 4, 1911, while visiting in Chicago and was buried on the 11th as Louisa E. Starkweather Ruddiman in the Montrose Cemetery in Chicago.

Ruddiman's Will was probated March 1912.

See also

Kate C. Ives, generally considered the first Bahá'í woman of the West.