Sydney Sprague
Sydney Sprague | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1875 |
| Died | August 16, 1943 |
Sydney Sprague (1875 - August 16, 1943) was an American Bahá’í who traveled the East to promote the religion in the early 1900's. He became alienated from the Bahá’í community at some point but reconciled shortly before his passing.
Biography[edit]
Sprague was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1875. At some point he became a Bahá’í and he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1904 and met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who sent him on a travel teaching tour to the East with a group of Persian Bahá’ís including the Hand of the Cause Mírzá Ḥasan. They visited Bombay, Calcutta, and Rangoon in India and then traveled to Mandalay, Burma. While in India Sprague met Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney and they traveled in the north of the country for a time.[1] While in Bombay he fell ill with cholera and a Zoroastrian volunteered to nurse him and passed away while Sprague recovered which Sprague interpreted as him sacrificing his life for him.[2]
In April 1908 Sprague went on a travel teaching trip with Charles Mason Remey to Iran and Russia departing from New York.[3] As of 1909 he had settled in Tehran and that summer he became a teacher at the Tarbiyat School. During the schools vacation period he returned to America and spoke on its financial needs to the American Bahá’í's which lead to the establishment of the Persian-American Educational Society.[4]
In July 1910 Sprague married Farahangiz Khanum, the daughter of Mírzá Asadu’llah Isfahani, in Haifa with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá conducting the wedding ceremony.[5] In approximately 1914 Farahangiz's brother and father were expelled from the Faith as Covenant-breaker's after disobeying ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Sprague resigned from the Bahá’í community.[6] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reportedly revealed a Tablet which stated that Sprague would rejoin the Faith at the end of his life.[7]
After leaving the Faith Sprague attempted to become a play producer and suffered severe financial losses and also suffered a stroke.[8] In 1931 he met with Willard Hatch in Los Angeles and requested to rejoin the Faith and was advised to contact Shoghi Effendi.[9] He did so and expressed his acceptance of the Guardianship and the Administrative Order of the religion and was reinstated as a Bahá’í in 1941,[10] with Shoghi Effendi cautioning the community not to reproach him with the past.[7]
Sprague spent the final years of his life as an active member of the Los Angeles Bahá’í community until his passing in 1943 and he was buried in Inglewood Cemetery in a town outside Los Angeles next to the grave of Amelia Collins first husband, Tom, and across the road from the grave of Thornton Chase.[7]
Publications[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Bahá’í Faith in America, The, Early Expansion, 1900–1912, Vol. 2. Robert Stockman, George Ronald, Oxford, 1995. p 263
- ↑ A Year with The Bahá'ís in India and Burma, Sydney Sprague. Kalimát Press, Los Angeles, 1986., p 51
- ↑ Bahá’í Faith in America, The, Early Expansion, 1900–1912, Vol. 2. Robert Stockman, George Ronald, Oxford, 1995. p 289
- ↑ Baha'i News, Vol. 1, Iss. 5, p 2
- ↑ Star of the West, Vol. 1(12), p 7
- ↑ Haifa Impressions: Pilgrim Notes Valera Allen, p 3
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 9 (1940-1944), Pg(s) 633. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 9 (1940-1944), Pg(s) 634. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 9 (1940-1944), Pg(s) 636. View as PDF.
- ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1945). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 9 (1940-1944), Pg(s) 635. View as PDF.
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/sprague_story_bahai_movement
- ↑ https://bahai-library.com/sprague_bahais_india_burma
