Thornton Chase
Encyclopedia
Thornton Chase is commonly recognized as the first convert to the Bahá'í Faith
of Occidental
background. During his life he organized many Bahá'í activities in Chicago and Los Angeles and was considered a prominent Bahá'í.
to parents of English stock and Baptist
religion. His father was a singer, amateur scientist, and wealthy businessman. Chase's mother died eighteen days after he was born, an event that profoundly shaped Chase's subsequent development. Chase's father remarried three years later and the couple adopted three girls. Apparently three year-old Thornton was not wanted; the United States 1850 census shows that he was living with a foster family in West Springfield. Chase himself describes his childhood as "loveless and lonely," and the inner vacuum he felt apparently set him on a quest for love, which culminated in his mystical interests.
For four years, aged thirteen to sixteen, Chase lived in Newton, Mass., with the Rev. Samuel Francis Smith
, a prominent Baptist clergyman. In July 1863 Chase was accepted to Brown University
, but instead of matriculating, in early 1864 – just before his seventeenth birthday – Chase went to Philadelphia to attend a school for officers for black infantry units. By May, 1864 Chase was second in charge of one hundred men, Company K of the Twenty sixth United States Colored Troops
. On July 5 and 7 the unit fought two battles south of Charleston, S.C.; Chase was wounded by an exploding cannon, permanently injuring the hearing in his left ear. In 1865 he was promoted to captain and commanded Company D of the 104th U. S. C. T.
in September 1866 but dropped out before completing the second semester. He returned to Springfield, where he became a salesman for his father's lumber business. On 11 May 1870 he married Annie Elizabeth Allyn of Bristol, Rhode Island
, and they had two children: Sarah Thornton (1871-1908) and Jessamine Allyn (1874-1947). Chase started his own speciality lumber business, directed the choir of First Baptist Church, and served as an officer in one of Springfield’s musical organizations.
In 1872 Chase's business failed. Unemployed, he moved to Boston
, where he obtained a meager living as an actor and singer. In 1873, in the midst of loneliness, poverty, and a sense of failure, Chase had an experience of God's
love, of love "unspeakable," of "absolute oneness." The experience pulled him back from the brink of destruction, renewed his hope, and set him on a religious search.
When he had exhausted his employment opportunities in Boston, Chase moved to Fort Howard (Green Bay
), Wisconsin, where he taught school for a time. He moved to Chicago
, where he acted in plays at McVicker’s, one of the city's better known theaters. Subsequently he obtained teaching and music tutoring jobs in Kansas. Finally he settled in Del Norte, Colorado
. Meanwhile, Annie remained in Springfield with her mother and two daughters, waiting for her husband to settle and provide his family support. She finally moved back to Rhode Island and in March 1878 sued Chase for divorce. He begged her to reconsider, but the court granted her petition. She lived the rest of her days in Newport, Rhode Island, dying in 1918. Chase's older daughter, Sarah, married in 1895 and had five children before dying suddenly in 1908. Chase's other daughter, Jessamine, never married and became a school teacher and musician like her father; she died in 1947.
Chase apparently was devastated by the divorce
. Sources indicate that he went into the Colorado mountains for a time, wandering in search of gold and silver. He remarried on 6 May 1880 and settled in Pueblo
. Once again he became extremely active in music, directing a succession of musical and theatrical groups. He invented and patented a prospector's pick. He began to publish poetry in local newspapers and magazines; one poem focuses on Jesus's love for humanity, thereby highlighting Chase's devotion to Jesus
.
In 1882 Chase moved to Denver and joined the local Swedenborgian
church. Swedenborgianism emphasized a metaphorical interpretation of the Bible and stressed a mystical approach to Jesus and Christianity; thus its Christianity was much less doctrinal that the Baptist Church of Chase's childhood. After five years, however, the Denver church was wracked by doctrinal disputes, and about that time Chase abandoned it and all other Christian churches. He initiated a broader religious search and began to read a wide variety of books about religion.
Chase earned his living in various ways, as a journalist
, an actor in Denver, and as an operator of a music store. In 1888 he was hired by the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company as an agent and soon became the manager of their entire Colorado operation. In 1889 they promoted him and moved him to their California office. On 28 June 1889 Chase's only son, William Jotham Thornton Chase, was born. Chase published a booklet called Sketches that explains why people should purchase life insurance
for themselves, using biblical and religious stories to illustrate its major points. The booklet reveals Chase as a religious seeker familiar with all the major religions.
from Beirut who had recently come to the United States
. Chase and a small group of Chicagoans began to study the Bahá'í Faith with him. Chase indicates that 5 June 1894 was a crucial date for the class; probably it was the day the class began. By 1895 he had completed the class and become a Bahá'í. At least three other Americans completed the class and accepted the new religion before him, but subsequently they left the Bahá'í Faith. Thus Chase should be considered the first American to become and remain a Bahá'í, and not the first American Bahá'í per se.
Classes on the Bahá'í Faith were organized in Chicago, and later in Enterprise, Kansas
; Kenosha, Wisconsin
; Ithaca, New York
; New York City
; Philadelphia; and Oakland, California
. By 1899 about fifteen hundred Americans had become Bahá'ís, seven hundred in Chicago itself. Chase himself taught a class on the religion, wrote numerous letters to interested seekers, and taught the religion widely during his frequent travels for his company.
In 1899 American Bahá'í pilgrims went on pilgrimage to Akka, Palestine
, where they met `Abdu'l-Bahá
. They brought knowledge of the Bahá'í organizational system to the United States. Chase became one of the leading organizers of the Chicago community, first in November 1899, when the community elected new officers, and then in March 1900, when the community elected a ten member "Board of Council." Chase was one of the 1899 officers and a member of the 1900 board. When Ibrahim Kheiralla became increasingly alienated from the Bahá'í community in 1899 and 1900 Chase was one of the leaders of the effort to reconcile Kheiralla with the other American Bahá'ís. When reconciliation became impossible Chase was a leader of the effort to organize the Bahá'í Faith independently of Kheiralla.
In 1900 and 1901 `Abdu'l Bahá sent `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání, Hájí Mírzá Hassan-i-Khurásání, Mírzá Asadu'lláh, and Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl
to the United States to deepen the Bahá'ís. Chase arranged for the latter two to stay in the Chicago Bahá'í Center, and moved into the center with them when his wife had to go east for a year to handle legal matters connected with the death of Chase's stepmother in Springfield. Chase acquired a deep understanding of the Bahá'í teachings during his time with the Persians.
Chase soon emerged as the principal organizer of the Chicago Bahá'í community. In May 1901 he coordinated the election of a new consultative body, which was first called the Chicago House of Justice and then the Chicago House of Spirituality. By 1902 Chase was serving as chairman, an office he retained until moving out of Chicago in 1909. Chase had learned about the Bahá'í principle of consultation from the Persian
teachers and emphasized its importance, thus becoming the first American Bahá'í to champion it. Chase also wrote many circular letters that the House of Spirituality sent to Bahá'í communities throughout the United States and Canada
, informing them of Bahá'í Holy Days and the fast
, thereby establishing their observance in North America.
Chase's writing experience proved useful in the effort to edit and publish Bahá'í literature
. Chase and four other Chicago Bahá'í businessmen founded the "Behais Supply and Publishing Board" in 1900; in the fall of 1902 it was legally incorporated as the Bahai Publishing Society. It soon emerged as the principal publisher of Bahá'í literature in the English speaking world, and became a major force behind the standardization of the spelling of Middle Eastern Bahá'í names and terms. Chase was the principal editor of the society's literature and one of its principal financers. The society published several early Bahá'í pamphlets written by Chase.
In 1907 Chase was able to go on pilgrimage
. Though Chase was able to be with `Abdu'l Bahá in Akka for only three days, the experience transformed him. `Abdu'l Bahá, highly impressed by Chase's qualities, conferred on him the title thábit, "steadfast."
On returning home Chase wrote an account of his pilgrimage, which was published under the title In Galilee in 1908. The short work gives a detailed and poignant description of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
home and family in Akka, as well as a moving description of `Abdu'l Bahá himself. The work remains one of the most important examples of the genre commonly known as pilgrim's notes. Chase then turned his thoughts to an introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith. Published as The Bahai Revelation in 1909, this work was one of the most comprehensive and accurate introductions to the Bahá'í Faith written by an early American Bahá'í. It continued to be reprinted until the 1920s. The work emphasized the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings as a vehicle for personal spiritual transformation.
In late 1909 the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, seeking to reduce Chase’s devotion to religious activities, transferred him to Los Angeles
. Chase considered resigning from the company, but at age 62 another job was impossible to find. He had to support a wife, a son in college, and an elderly mother in law, so he accepted the new position, even though it paid much less. Chase still traveled extensively for his company as far north as Seattle and as far east as Denver, and these travels gave him opportunities to visit the rapidly developing Bahá'í communities of the Mountain and Pacific states. He also returned to writing poetry, primarily on the Bahá'í Faith. He helped to organize the Los Angeles Bahá'ís; in 1910 they elected a five-member governing board that included Chase as a member. They also established their first monthly meetings.
. `Abdu'l Bahá was on a train en route to California at the time; He immediately changed his plans and went to Los Angeles to visit Chase's grave. There he praised Chase's qualities highly, instructed the Bahá'ís to hold a commemoration of Chase annually at his grave, and encouraged Bahá'ís to visit the gravesite. Researcher Robert Stockman considers Chase's importance as an early North American Bahá’í thinker, publicist, administrator, and organizer is still underappreciated and that in many ways Chase’s death left a gap in the North American Bahá’í community that remained unfilled until the rise to prominence in the early 1920s of Horace Holley, the chief developer of Bahá’í organization in the United States and Canada.
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
of Occidental
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
background. During his life he organized many Bahá'í activities in Chicago and Los Angeles and was considered a prominent Bahá'í.
Early life
He was born James Brown Thornton Chase on 22 February 1847 in Springfield, MassachusettsSpringfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
to parents of English stock and Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
religion. His father was a singer, amateur scientist, and wealthy businessman. Chase's mother died eighteen days after he was born, an event that profoundly shaped Chase's subsequent development. Chase's father remarried three years later and the couple adopted three girls. Apparently three year-old Thornton was not wanted; the United States 1850 census shows that he was living with a foster family in West Springfield. Chase himself describes his childhood as "loveless and lonely," and the inner vacuum he felt apparently set him on a quest for love, which culminated in his mystical interests.
For four years, aged thirteen to sixteen, Chase lived in Newton, Mass., with the Rev. Samuel Francis Smith
Samuel Francis Smith
Samuel Francis Smith, , Baptist minister, journalist and author, is best known for having written the lyrics to "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which he entitled America.-Early life:...
, a prominent Baptist clergyman. In July 1863 Chase was accepted to Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, but instead of matriculating, in early 1864 – just before his seventeenth birthday – Chase went to Philadelphia to attend a school for officers for black infantry units. By May, 1864 Chase was second in charge of one hundred men, Company K of the Twenty sixth United States Colored Troops
United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops were regiments of the United States Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African American soldiers. First recruited in 1863, by the end of the Civil War, the men of the 175 regiments of the USCT constituted approximately one-tenth of the Union...
. On July 5 and 7 the unit fought two battles south of Charleston, S.C.; Chase was wounded by an exploding cannon, permanently injuring the hearing in his left ear. In 1865 he was promoted to captain and commanded Company D of the 104th U. S. C. T.
Marriage and employment
Chase began to attend Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in September 1866 but dropped out before completing the second semester. He returned to Springfield, where he became a salesman for his father's lumber business. On 11 May 1870 he married Annie Elizabeth Allyn of Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....
, and they had two children: Sarah Thornton (1871-1908) and Jessamine Allyn (1874-1947). Chase started his own speciality lumber business, directed the choir of First Baptist Church, and served as an officer in one of Springfield’s musical organizations.
In 1872 Chase's business failed. Unemployed, he moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where he obtained a meager living as an actor and singer. In 1873, in the midst of loneliness, poverty, and a sense of failure, Chase had an experience of God's
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
love, of love "unspeakable," of "absolute oneness." The experience pulled him back from the brink of destruction, renewed his hope, and set him on a religious search.
When he had exhausted his employment opportunities in Boston, Chase moved to Fort Howard (Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
), Wisconsin, where he taught school for a time. He moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he acted in plays at McVicker’s, one of the city's better known theaters. Subsequently he obtained teaching and music tutoring jobs in Kansas. Finally he settled in Del Norte, Colorado
Del Norte, Colorado
The Town of Del Norte is a Statutory Town in and the county seat of Rio Grande County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,705 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Del Norte is located at ....
. Meanwhile, Annie remained in Springfield with her mother and two daughters, waiting for her husband to settle and provide his family support. She finally moved back to Rhode Island and in March 1878 sued Chase for divorce. He begged her to reconsider, but the court granted her petition. She lived the rest of her days in Newport, Rhode Island, dying in 1918. Chase's older daughter, Sarah, married in 1895 and had five children before dying suddenly in 1908. Chase's other daughter, Jessamine, never married and became a school teacher and musician like her father; she died in 1947.
Chase apparently was devastated by the divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
. Sources indicate that he went into the Colorado mountains for a time, wandering in search of gold and silver. He remarried on 6 May 1880 and settled in Pueblo
Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....
. Once again he became extremely active in music, directing a succession of musical and theatrical groups. He invented and patented a prospector's pick. He began to publish poetry in local newspapers and magazines; one poem focuses on Jesus's love for humanity, thereby highlighting Chase's devotion to Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
.
In 1882 Chase moved to Denver and joined the local Swedenborgian
Swedenborgian
A Swedenborgian is the doctrines, beliefs, and practices of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and is an adjective describing a person or an organization that understands the Bible through the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg....
church. Swedenborgianism emphasized a metaphorical interpretation of the Bible and stressed a mystical approach to Jesus and Christianity; thus its Christianity was much less doctrinal that the Baptist Church of Chase's childhood. After five years, however, the Denver church was wracked by doctrinal disputes, and about that time Chase abandoned it and all other Christian churches. He initiated a broader religious search and began to read a wide variety of books about religion.
Chase earned his living in various ways, as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, an actor in Denver, and as an operator of a music store. In 1888 he was hired by the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company as an agent and soon became the manager of their entire Colorado operation. In 1889 they promoted him and moved him to their California office. On 28 June 1889 Chase's only son, William Jotham Thornton Chase, was born. Chase published a booklet called Sketches that explains why people should purchase life insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
for themselves, using biblical and religious stories to illustrate its major points. The booklet reveals Chase as a religious seeker familiar with all the major religions.
Bahá'í life
About 1893 Union Mutual promoted Chase to superintendent of all agencies west of the Appalachians. This necessitated a move to Chicago. One day in early 1894 Chase was writing a poem about God when a business colleague entered his office. The colleague was intrigued by the poem and told Chase about a man who was teaching that God had recently "walked upon the earth." Chase investigated and discovered that the teacher was Ibrahim Kheiralla, a Bahá'íBahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
from Beirut who had recently come to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Chase and a small group of Chicagoans began to study the Bahá'í Faith with him. Chase indicates that 5 June 1894 was a crucial date for the class; probably it was the day the class began. By 1895 he had completed the class and become a Bahá'í. At least three other Americans completed the class and accepted the new religion before him, but subsequently they left the Bahá'í Faith. Thus Chase should be considered the first American to become and remain a Bahá'í, and not the first American Bahá'í per se.
Classes on the Bahá'í Faith were organized in Chicago, and later in Enterprise, Kansas
Enterprise, Kansas
Enterprise is a city in Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 855.-History:On January 10, 1883, the Enterprise Town Company, capital $50,000, was organized. The following officers were elected: V. P. Wilson, president; John Johntz, vice-president;...
; Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
; Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
; New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; Philadelphia; and Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. By 1899 about fifteen hundred Americans had become Bahá'ís, seven hundred in Chicago itself. Chase himself taught a class on the religion, wrote numerous letters to interested seekers, and taught the religion widely during his frequent travels for his company.
In 1899 American Bahá'í pilgrims went on pilgrimage to Akka, Palestine
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
, where they met `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
. They brought knowledge of the Bahá'í organizational system to the United States. Chase became one of the leading organizers of the Chicago community, first in November 1899, when the community elected new officers, and then in March 1900, when the community elected a ten member "Board of Council." Chase was one of the 1899 officers and a member of the 1900 board. When Ibrahim Kheiralla became increasingly alienated from the Bahá'í community in 1899 and 1900 Chase was one of the leaders of the effort to reconcile Kheiralla with the other American Bahá'ís. When reconciliation became impossible Chase was a leader of the effort to organize the Bahá'í Faith independently of Kheiralla.
In 1900 and 1901 `Abdu'l Bahá sent `Abdu'l-Karím-i-Tihrání, Hájí Mírzá Hassan-i-Khurásání, Mírzá Asadu'lláh, and Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl
Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl
' , or ' was the foremost Bahá'í scholar who helped spread the Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States. He is one of the few Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh who never actually met Bahá'u'lláh...
to the United States to deepen the Bahá'ís. Chase arranged for the latter two to stay in the Chicago Bahá'í Center, and moved into the center with them when his wife had to go east for a year to handle legal matters connected with the death of Chase's stepmother in Springfield. Chase acquired a deep understanding of the Bahá'í teachings during his time with the Persians.
Chase soon emerged as the principal organizer of the Chicago Bahá'í community. In May 1901 he coordinated the election of a new consultative body, which was first called the Chicago House of Justice and then the Chicago House of Spirituality. By 1902 Chase was serving as chairman, an office he retained until moving out of Chicago in 1909. Chase had learned about the Bahá'í principle of consultation from the Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
teachers and emphasized its importance, thus becoming the first American Bahá'í to champion it. Chase also wrote many circular letters that the House of Spirituality sent to Bahá'í communities throughout the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, informing them of Bahá'í Holy Days and the fast
Nineteen Day Fast
The Nineteen-Day Fast is a nineteen-day period of the year, during which members of the Bahá'í Faith adhere to a sunrise-to-sunset fast. Along with obligatory prayer, it is one of the greatest obligations of a Bahá'í, and its chief purpose is spiritual; to reinvigorate the soul and bring the...
, thereby establishing their observance in North America.
Chase's writing experience proved useful in the effort to edit and publish Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
. Chase and four other Chicago Bahá'í businessmen founded the "Behais Supply and Publishing Board" in 1900; in the fall of 1902 it was legally incorporated as the Bahai Publishing Society. It soon emerged as the principal publisher of Bahá'í literature in the English speaking world, and became a major force behind the standardization of the spelling of Middle Eastern Bahá'í names and terms. Chase was the principal editor of the society's literature and one of its principal financers. The society published several early Bahá'í pamphlets written by Chase.
In 1907 Chase was able to go on pilgrimage
Bahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
. Though Chase was able to be with `Abdu'l Bahá in Akka for only three days, the experience transformed him. `Abdu'l Bahá, highly impressed by Chase's qualities, conferred on him the title thábit, "steadfast."
On returning home Chase wrote an account of his pilgrimage, which was published under the title In Galilee in 1908. The short work gives a detailed and poignant description of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
home and family in Akka, as well as a moving description of `Abdu'l Bahá himself. The work remains one of the most important examples of the genre commonly known as pilgrim's notes. Chase then turned his thoughts to an introductory book on the Bahá'í Faith. Published as The Bahai Revelation in 1909, this work was one of the most comprehensive and accurate introductions to the Bahá'í Faith written by an early American Bahá'í. It continued to be reprinted until the 1920s. The work emphasized the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings as a vehicle for personal spiritual transformation.
In late 1909 the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, seeking to reduce Chase’s devotion to religious activities, transferred him to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Chase considered resigning from the company, but at age 62 another job was impossible to find. He had to support a wife, a son in college, and an elderly mother in law, so he accepted the new position, even though it paid much less. Chase still traveled extensively for his company as far north as Seattle and as far east as Denver, and these travels gave him opportunities to visit the rapidly developing Bahá'í communities of the Mountain and Pacific states. He also returned to writing poetry, primarily on the Bahá'í Faith. He helped to organize the Los Angeles Bahá'ís; in 1910 they elected a five-member governing board that included Chase as a member. They also established their first monthly meetings.
Passing
Thornton Chase died on 30 September 1912 in Los Angeles, of complications following unsuccessful surgerySurgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
. `Abdu'l Bahá was on a train en route to California at the time; He immediately changed his plans and went to Los Angeles to visit Chase's grave. There he praised Chase's qualities highly, instructed the Bahá'ís to hold a commemoration of Chase annually at his grave, and encouraged Bahá'ís to visit the gravesite. Researcher Robert Stockman considers Chase's importance as an early North American Bahá’í thinker, publicist, administrator, and organizer is still underappreciated and that in many ways Chase’s death left a gap in the North American Bahá’í community that remained unfilled until the rise to prominence in the early 1920s of Horace Holley, the chief developer of Bahá’í organization in the United States and Canada.
External links
- In Galilee by Thornton Chase at LibriVox
- The Bahai Revelation by Thornton Chase at LibriVox