Bahai Library Online

Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith in Canada

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Date 1959, descending sort earliest first

date event tags firsts
1959 (late or early 1960)
195-
Amy Putnam, a pioneer to Ohsweken on the Six Nations, reported that the first Native believer had declared. [UC107] iiiii
  • It was reported in the Canadian Bahá'í News that Amy Putnam from Hamilton had moved on to the Reserve by April, 1958. [CBN No 99 April 1958 p8]
  • Amy Putnam; Native Teaching; Six Nations Reserve, ON first believer on the the Six Nations
    1959 13 Oct
    195-
    Clifford and Catherine Huxtable arrived in the Gulf Islands and were named Knights of Bahá'u'lláh (albeit in 1957 see LNW93). [BW13:457]
  • The Gulf Islands were not on the Guardians original list of pioneering goals but in January 1956, after several years of futile efforts to fill the goal of the Anticosti Island the Guardian gat the Canadian National Assembly permission to choose another goal. Mary Zabolotny did manage to fill the Anticosti goal but the Gulf Island goal remained.
  • They arrived with personal care worker Bernice Boulding who became a Bahá'í the following year, the first in the Gulf Islands. The first local assembly was formed on the 21st of April, 1964. The couple pioneered to St Helena arriving on the 9th of April, 1964. [KoB273-276]
  • Clifford Huxtable; Catherine Huxtable; - Knights of Bahá'u'lláh; Local Spiritual Assembly, formation; Salt Spring Island, BC
    1959 Oct
    195-
    In the October 1959 edition of the Canadian Bahá'í News it was announced that request from the National Spiritual Assembly to the province of Saskatchewan for authorization for Bahá'í Assemblies to solemnize marriages in the province was accepted. [CBN No 117 October 1959 p2] Marriage; Saskatchewan, Canada
    1959 Sep
    195-
    Carol and David Bowie pioneered to Ear Falls, Ontario and had to relinquish membership on the National Promulgation Committee. The new membership was: Fred Graham, Douglas Martin, Jeannie Seddon, Donald Dainty and Gail Burland (secretary). [CBN No 127 August 1960 p70] iiiii Carol Bowie; David Bowie; Fred Graham; Douglas Martin; Jeannie Seddon; Don Dainty; Gail Burland; Proclamation I; Promulgation Campaign; Ear Falls, ON
    1959 Sep
    195-
    Sally Jackson became the first Tlingit Bahá'í at the second annual Yukon Bahá'í Summer School at Jackson Lake. Sally Jackson was from Teslin. [Bahá'í News Apr 1960 p9; CBN No 122 March 1960 p6] Sally Jackson; Tlingit; Tesllin, YT; Jackson Lake, YT the first Tlingit Bahá'í; first Native person in the Yukon to become a Baha'i
    1959 (Late summer)
    195-
    Douglas and Elizabeth Martin travelled to the Maritimes to introduce the Promulgation Campaign. The Bahá'ís of Halifax, Charlottetown and Saint John participated in the project and over 2,000 letters were sent out from these three centres during the first week of September. Winston Evans, from Nashville, once again participated as a speaker at the meetings. [CBN No 117 October 1959 p4; UC96] Proclamation I; Promulgation Campaign; Douglas Martin; Elizabeth Martin; Halifax, NS; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Saint John, NB
    1959 20 Jun
    195-
    The passing of Ernest Vernon Harrison (b. 22 November, 1880 in Bengal, India) in Charlottetown.
  • He had immigrated to Montreal by way of Nigeria and the Sudan where he had worked on railway projects. He arrived with his wife Amy and their two children, a boy and a girl.
  • He associated with the Bahá'í community for a number of years from 1916 but did not make a commitment. In 1921 while on his way to California, he stopped briefly in Wilmette and met with so much loving kindness that he could not sleep. That summer he wrote to 'Abdu'l-Bahá and received a Tablet from Him dated the 16th of August 1921. In five years time he accepted the Faith and became active.
  • In December, 1925 he delivered an address in the same church as 'Abdu'l-Bahá had spoken in 1912. [BN No 10 February 1926 p8]
  • Ernest Harrison; - In Memoriam; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
    1959 24 - 26 Apr
    195-
    The National Convention was held at the Westbury Hotel in Toronto. Those elected were: Lloyd Gardner, Rowland Estall, Hart Bowsfield, Winnifred Harvey, Audrey Westheuser, Harold Moscrop, (tres.) Peggy Ross, (sec'y) and Allan Raynor.
  • For a list of delegates to the 12th National Convention see [CBN No 110 March 1959 p2].
  • For the message from the Hands to the Convention see [CBN No 113 June 1959 p1-6].
  • National Spiritual Assembly, election of; National Convention; Lloyd Gardner; Rowland Estall; Hart Bowsfield; Winnifred Harvey; Audrey Westheuser; Harold Moscrop; Peggy Ross; Allan Raynor; Toronto, ON
    1959 Ridván
    195-
    The first Spiritual Assembly of the Bahà'ís of Niagara Falls was formed by joint declaration. The members were: Carol and David Bowie, Charlie and Florence Grindlay, Ben and Mary Koltermann, Amy Puntnam Joy Carter and Vi Dutoff.
  • The first Bahá'í in Niagara Falls was Charlie Grindlay.
  • The first native Niagara Falls resident to become a Bahá'í was Carol Bowie.
  • Carol Bowie; David Bowie; Charles Grindlay; Florence Grindlay; Ben Koltermann; Mary Koltermann; Amy Putnam; Joy Carter; Vi Dutoff The first Bahá'í in Niagara Falls was Charlie Grindlay. ; The first native Niagara Falls resident to become a Bahá'í was Carol Bowie.
    1959 (Ridván)
    195-
    The formation of the first Local Spiritual Assembly in the Yukon in Whitehorse. [CBN No 113 June 1959 p10]
  • For a photo see CBN No 117 October 1959 p1. Those elected were: Lorne Murphy, Mrs Georgie Hughes, Jerry Brda, Joan Anderson, Erna Henckel, Margaret Brda, Ted Anderson, Ruth Cunliffe, and Glen Hughes.
  • At the Jackson Lake Summer School it was resolved to double their numbers by the 3rd annual summer school to be held in September 1960. New Tlingit Bahá'í Sally Jackson proposed that every Bahá'í in the Yukon recite three special prayers each day, the The Tablet of Ahmad the Long Obligatory Prayer and the prayer for Canada. By the time of the summer school they had enrolled eleven new believers and four days later, the twelfth new member, Joseph Smith, the first Tutchone Bahá'í also enrolled. [Native Conversion, Native Identity: An Oral History of the Bahá'í Faith among First Nations People in the Southern Central Yukon Territory, Canada by Carolyn Patterson Sawin p91-92]
  • In January 1961 a travel teacher from Alaska, newly declared believer Tlingit Jim Walton, himself a fluent Tlingit speaker was able to introduce a number of First Nations people to the Faith. By the 21st of the month there were 36 new believers for a total of 55 in at least eight localities, Whitehorse, Camp Takhini, Carcross, Marsh Lake, Teslin, Aishihik, Carmacks and Whitehorse Flats, a Native village near Whitehorse. [ibid p94]
  • Local Spiritual Assembly, formation; Lorne Murphy; Georgie Hughes; Jerry Brda; Joan Anderson; Erna Henckel; Margaret Brda; Ted Anderson; Ruth Cunliffe; Glen Hughes; Whitehorse, YT first Local Spiritual Assembly in the Yukon; the first Tutchone Bahá'í
    1959 Mar
    195-
    It was announced in the Canadian Bahá'í News in the March, 1959 issue that the criteria for testing for the Religion and Life Badge for the Canadian Girl Guides and the Boy Scout Association had been established. [CBN No 110 March 1959 p3-4] Religion and Life Badge
    1959 20 Mar
    195-
    The passing of Jean Graham (b. 1916) in Burlington. She was buried in White Chapel Gardens in Ancaster, Ontario. She and her husband Fred were registered as Bahá'ís on January 5th, 1952. [UC86-92; CBN No 112 May 1959 p4]
  • Just prior to her passing Jean wrote an impassioned appeal to the Canadian Bahá'í community to do what you can in service of the Faith while you are yet able. Six months before her passing she was apparently healthy and active and then she received her diagnosis of cancer. [CBN No 110 March 1959 p3]
  • Jean Graham; - In Memoriam; Burlington, ON
    1959 Mar
    195-
    Fred Graham was asked to preside over a name-giving ceremony for Michelle Jamál Bowie, daughter of Carol and David Bowie of Niagara Falls who had been born in December, 1958. [UC88]

    Mrs Audrey Rayne presided at the name-giving ceremony for the two children of Mr and Mrs K Ross in Halifax. [CBN No 110 March 1959 p3]

    Naming ceremony; Fred Graham; Carol Bowie; David Bowie; Michelle Bowie; Audrey Rayne; K Ross; Niagara Falls, ON; Halifax, NS
    1959 The 1950's
    195-
    The largest year-round Inuit community in Canada was in Hamilton at the Mountain Sanatorium where 332 Inuit patients were being treated. There were 1,578 Inuit being treated in Canadian hospitals in 1953. One-third of the Inuit population of the 1950s was infected with TB and approximately one out of every seven Inuit was in a southern sanatorium.[Contributed by Leslie Cole] Inuit; Tuberculosis; Mountain Sanatorium, Canada; Hamilton, ON
    1959 (In the year)
    195-
    Hand of the Cause John Robarts visited the Piikani First Nation (Peigan Reserve). [The Distance Traversed a presentation by Bev Knowlton and Joan Young 2022] John Robarts; Piikani First Nation, AB
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