• LDG1:217 for information on her pioneer work.

Edith's mother had raised her two daughters to share her passion to look for religious truth. Upon learning of the Faith Edith hurried home to share her findings with her mother and other relatives. Mrs Magee left immediately for Chicago, found Kheirullah and enrolled in his first class. She returned to London a Bahá'í and with her two daughters, Edith and Harriet formed the first Bahá'í group in Canada.

In 1902 Edit moved to New York to study music. When her father John Magee passed away her mother and sister Harriet followed her. All three women remained steadfast believers, active in the New York and Green Acre communities. Harriet became a friend of Abdu'l-Bahá's translator Ahmad Sohrab and his letters to her after His departure from America have become a valuable account of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's movements and activities.

Edit Magee became Mrs Edith Englis and spent her last years in Alexandria, Virginia with her son and daughter-in-law. [CBN September 1966 p6; OBBC1; BFA2p156]

• See Bahá'í Chronicles.
• See BC Vol 2 No 2 June 1979; or CBN No 200 September 1966 p6.

• Reference was made to it in a paper entitled `The Religious Mission of the English Speaking Nations' by Rev. Henry H. Jessup, a retired missionary from north Syria, read by Rev George A. Ford at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. [AB63–4; BBD2412; BBR57; BFA1:323; BW2:230; GPB256; SBBH1:76, 88, 202]
  • See AB63–4, BW2:169 for text.
  • The Magee family of London, Ester and daughters Edith and Harriet heard of the Faith for the first time. [OBBC1]

"That all nations should become one in faith, and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should, and differences of race, be annulled; what harm is there in this? Yet so it shall be. These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the "most great peace" shall come. Do not you in Europe need this also? Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind." -Bahá'u'lláh

Other Canadians who accepted the Faith in Chicago were:

• Paul K. Dealy (26 March)(from St. John, NB) [OBCC17]
• Honoré Jaxon (18 March) [OBCC18, BFA1p90-92]
• Dr James Oakshette (21 May) {OBCC32]
• Aimée Montfort (wife of Honoré Jaxon) (first French-Canadian (5 October). [OBCC20]
• Ester Rennels (87th to declare in Chicago) [OBCC34]
• Dr James Carmichael (b. (7 October). [OBCC32]

It can be said that the history of the Bahá'í Faith in Canada began at this point.

• Percy Woodcock resided briefly in and occasionally visited Brockville, ON
• Dr James Oakshette resided in Toronto [BFA2p157.

Prof. Barakatullah attended the Sunday school in the Presbyterian church in Brockville for three consecutive Sundays and took part in a debate on the subject of the "Millennium." [Bahá'í Bulletin Vol 1 No 1 p13]

MM!p231 gives the date as 1904.

• It was held in the home of Corinne True. [CT82–3]
• It was attended by 39 delegates from 36 cities. [GPB262; SBBH1:146]
• The Convention established the 'Bahá'í Temple Unity', which was incorporated to hold title to the Temple property and to provide for its construction. A constitution was framed and an Executive Board of the Bahá'í Temple Unity elected. [BBD39; BBRSM:106; BW10:179; GPB349; PP397; SBBH1:146]"

• See OBCC110-119 for information on the development of the Saint John community between 1910 and 1928.
• See as well Origins of the Saint John Bahá'í Group in Community Histories in SBBR Vol 6 by Dr Will C van den Hoonaard pp218-239.

• AY83 says that Khan left Washington about the 22nd of August to attend an "International Agricultural Conference". There was an international conference 19-26 October 1912.

• In spite of the lateness of the hour a group of friends and a newspaper publisher, Mr John Lewis of the Montreal Daily Star were waiting to see the Master at the Maxwell home. That newspaper and The Gazette provided extensive coverage of the visit. It is noteworthy that the newspaper coverage in the Montreal papers were noticeably free of journalistic quirks and extravagances. [AB256-257; MD226-227]
• He stayed in Montreal for ten days, living for four nights at the Maxwell residence. [239D:132]
• See also the film `Abdu'l-Bahá in Canada by Fred Rohani.

• In the morning the pastor of the Unitarian Church came with several others to visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The Master discussed the elimination of religious superstitions and prejudices which are contrary to science and commons sense and which are obstacles to the attainment of the foundation of truth of the divine religions. [MD227]
• He granted an interview with a newspaper reporter. His questions were about His life and the history of the cause. [MD228]
• In the afternoon, at the invitation of Mr. Maxwell, 'Abdu'l-Bahá went for a ride in the carriage. His comment, when He saw the college buildings was:
  "As only material education is imparted and only natural philosophy is taught, these universities do not produce highly talented scholars. When both the natural and divine philosophies are expounded, they will bring forth outstanding souls and evince great advancement. The reason for the success of the Greek schools was that they combined both natural and diving philosophies". [MD228]
• They visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame. He gazed at the vast cathedral, its ornamentation and numerous statues and spoke of its grandeur and embellishments. Standing in an open sped at the entrance, He said:
  "Behold what eleven disciples of Christ have accomplished, how they sacrificed themselves! I exhort you to walk in their footsteps. When a person is detached, he is capable of revolutionizing the whole world. The disciples of Christ met together in consultation on top of a mountain. They pledged themselves to undergo all manner of hardships, to accept every affliction as a bounty and to consider all difficulties easy to overcome. 'He who is tied to a family, let him arrange to leave it; he who is not should remain single. He should forgo his comfort and his life'. Consulting thus, they descended from the mountain and each on went a different way and never returned. It is for this reason that they were able to leave behind such achievements. After Christ, the disciples truly forgot themselves, and not merely in word." [MD228-229]
  • Note that He had used this same example years earlier when He wrote His Will and Testament. He used that same example of sacrifice.
• In the evening there was a well-attended meeting at 'Abdu'l-Bahá's residence and following the talk many requested private interviews. Among those was the president of the socialist organization who invited the Master to speak to his group. [MD230]
• Among those who came was the Reverend F.J. Griffin, the minister of the Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, who was to introduce Him to his congregation on the following morning. 'Abdu'l-Bahá presented him with an armful of American Beauty roses. [ABC57]
• The list of those attending this first reception included: Martha McBean, a cousin of Sutherland Maxwell, someone who shared with him the distinction of being one of the two first declared believers of Canadian birth, Mrs V S Pomeroy with her daughters, Mary and Elise and Elizabeth Cowles, Miss Anne Savage (librarian), Mrs George S Thompson, Percy Woodcock, Prof Armstrong (McGill University), Dr Carmichael, Dr Johnson, Mr Wright, Mr John Lewis (editor of the Montreal Daily Star) and Mr Archie Eddington and his wife. [Excerpts from the account of Amine De Mille from ABC55-57]
• Attending as well were the two children of the Maxwell household Mary Maxwell and Eddie Elliot, the mother of a servant. He would later become a member of the Montreal Local Assembly and was the only member of his race to become a Bahá'í in Montreal in his lifetime. [Excerpts from the account of Amine De Mille from ABC55-57]

• Talk at Home of Mr. and Mrs. William Sutherland Maxwell. [PUP302; ABC17-22]
• Talk at Home of Mr. and Mrs. William Sutherland Maxwell. [PUP306ABC23-25] It was during this address that His taj fell from His head and His hair tumbled down. He continued to speak in this state for more than half an hour. [MD236-237]

• Talk at Home of Mr. and Mrs. William Sutherland Maxwell. [PUP308; ABC26-30]

• Talk at St. James Methodist Church, 463 Sainte Catherine Street, West, to a gathering of 1200. In the talk He indicated that Canada shared much the same destiny as the United States. [PUP312; ABC37-43, 48; AB264-265]
  Praise be to God! I find these two great American nations highly capable and advanced in all that appertains to progress and civilization. These governments are fair and equitable. The motives and purposes of these people are lofty and inspiring. Therefore, it is my hope that these revered nations may become prominent factors in the establishment of international peace and the oneness of the world of humanity; that they may lay the foundations of equality and spiritual brotherhood among mankind; that they may manifest the highest virtues of the human world, revere the divine lights of the Prophets of God and establish the reality of unity so necessary today in the affairs of nations.
• See the film Abdu'l-Bahá in Canada by Fred Rohani, produced by Faramarz Rohani and narrated by Laylee Delaine.

• In the afternoon the Master spoke about the oneness of the fundamental truths of the religions of God. [MD248]

• See 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Canada: A compilation from written accounts by Marlene Macke.

• A grand party of well-wishers were on hand to bid Him farewell. The train departed for Buffalo at 9AM. [HD250] iiiii

• The grave of Edward William Harris (b.19 March 1871, London, England, d. 22 March, 1922) is marked with a tombstone bearing The Greatest Name. [OBCC128]
• Find a grave for his wife Annie.
• And for their son, Edward William Harris, the Younger.

• She (23yrs) and her husband Gustav (39yrs) and two children immigrated to Canada in 1871. He passed away in 1929. They were buried in the Kilworthy Lutheran Cemetery.