Thornton Chase

Thornton Chase (born February 22, 1847 in Springfield , † September 30, 1912 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American author. He was named by Abdu'l Baha as the first Bahai of the American continent and was posthumously appointed a disciple of Abdu'l Baha by Shoghi Effendi .

Life

Thornton Chase was born in Chicago as a Bahai in 1894 . At least three Americans accepted the new religion before Thornton Chase, but abandoned the Baha'i faith again. So Chase should be considered the first American to become and remain a Baha'i. Abdu'l Baha gave him the new name Thabit ("the steadfast"). He traveled extensively as an insurance agent for his employer, teaching the faith in the process. In April 1907 he visited Abdu'l Baha while imprisoned in Acre . After his return, Thornton Chase published his pilgrimage notes in 1908 under the title "In Galilee". He also wrote and published an introductory work on the Baha'i Faith entitled "The Bahá'i Revelation," which has even been translated into German . Thornton Chase died in Los Angeles just before Abdu'l Baha arrived in California. Abdu'l Baha could only visit Thornton Chase's grave in Inglewood Cemetery .

Works

• Thornton Chase: In Galilee . Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago 1908 ( online ).
• Thornton Chase: In Galilee . Ed .: Kalimát Press. Los Angeles 1985, ISBN 0-933770-38-3 ( online ).
• Thornton Chase: The Bahai Revelation . Bahai Publishing Society, Chicago 1909 ( online ).
• Thornton Chase: The Baha'i Revelation . German Baha'i Federation, Stuttgart 1925.

literature

• O. Zebby Whitehead: Some Early Bahá'ís of the West . George Ronald, Oxford UK 1976, ISBN 0-85398-065-9 , pp. 1-12 .
• Robert H. Stockman: Thornton Chase: First American Bahai . Bahai Publishing Trust of the United States, Wilmette 2002, ISBN 978-0-87743-282-1 .