- 1926-01-28 — One again Louise Gregory embarked from Boston to Liverpool on the SS Winifredian of the Leyland Line where she arrived on the 28th of October. After spending some time in Liverpool and York she stayed for a while in Bruessels and then went to Graz in Austria where she reconnected with the active Bahá'í group there. Her next stop was Vienna and then on to her destination, Budapest.
In the spring of 1927 she went to Sofia, Bulgaria.where Martha Root had visited for 12 days in February.
In June of 1927 Louise returned to New York in the United States from Boulongne-sur-Mer, France. During this trip she had visited Liverpool, York and London in England, Brussels in Belgium, Graz and Vienna in Austria, Budapest, Hungary and Sofia in Bulgaria. [SYH140-145, 240] - 1928-03-15 —
In early Spring Louise Gregory sailed for Dresden, Germany where she spent 11 days renewing old acquaintances. [SYH149]
- Around the beginning of April she went to Prague were she met with Martha Root and spent about 2 weeks. [SYH149]
- By March or perhaps mid April she was in Sofia installed at the Hotel Union Palace and nourishing her group of about 5 interested persons. Her knowledge of Esperanto was link to her contacts. On the 14th and the 18th of the month there were severe earthquakes near Bulgaria's second city, Plovdiv. The shocks were felt in Sofia so normal activity was suspended temporarily. [SYH149-150]
- In May, to escape the heat of the summer in Sofia she took refuge the Villa Viktoria in Trenčianske Teplice, a spa town situated in the Carpathian mountains of Slovakia. She stayed there in June, July and most of August. Here she received a great deal of assistance from an attracted soul, Dr Binder and his friend, Mr Schapira. An earthquake in Bulgaria's second city, Plovdiv, upset the country and the teaching work [SYH150-152]
- On about the 20th of August she made her way to Vienna and spent time with a previous contact. From there she took boat down the Danube on August 26th and arrived in Ruse, Bulgaria on the 30th of August and travelled overland to Sofia where she resumed her work with her study group in mid-September. One of her contacts translated Dr Esslemont's pamphlet "What is the Bahá'í Movement" into Bulgarian and 2000 copies were printed. She held study classes, taught languages, held public meeting and put articles in the local paper to attract interested persons. [SYH155; BN No 31 April 1929 p4]
- On the 19th of March 1929 she departed Sofia en route to Haifa and her second pilgrimage. It is likely that she took the Simplon Orient Express to Tripoli, Lebanon and then by autobus to Beirut and Haifa. The latter part of the journey was completed by the Nairn Transport Company. [SYH161-165]
- After her pilgrimage she sailed from Haifa on the SS Asia of the French Fabre Line to Providence, Rhode Island where she arrived on the 13th of May 1929. From their she travelled home to their cottage at Green Acre. During this trip to Europe she had visited Dresden in Germany, had accompanied Martha Root in Prague, Czechoslovakia, spent the summer in Teplice, Czechoslovakia and went back to Sofia before embarking on pilgrimage. [SYH165-166, 241]
- 1930-11-00 —
Louise Gregory sailed on the SS Sinaia from Providence, Rhode Island with a destination of Constanta in Romania. The ship carried her via the Azores, Algiers and Istanbul. In all possibility she visited Bucharest and Poland before arriving at her destination of Sofia some time in January. [SYH169]
- Marion Jack had been on pilgrimage and Shoghi Effendi suggested she might go to Sofia to help Louise. She left Haifa near the end of March, stopped over briefly in Cyprus then on to Trieste and then to Sofia. Meanwhile Louise had been informed by the American Legation that the police had become suspicious of her "non-Christian" work and she had to vacate the country before the expiration of her visa. [SYH172, NBAD122, 143-144]
- Louise left Sofia on the 8th of April. She stopped in Geneva, Switzerland to visit her friends at the International Bahá'í Bureau. After making her way to England she departed from Liverpool on the SS Britannic on the 24th of April arriving in Boston on the 2nd of May. [SYH241]
- Marion had arrived in Sofia on the 9th of April 1931. [SYH172]
- 1931-04-04 — Marion Jack arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, to begin her pioneering service.
- 1931-10-00 — Notwithstanding the fact that her visa had not been renewed the previous year, Louise Gregory returned to Bulgaria, this time to Varna, a resort on the Black Sea. Marion Jack was able to join her from Sofia and their teaching efforts met with some success. Marion had not only continued Louise's work in Sofia but started a group in Turnova. Much credit is due to George Adam Benke for his part in her success. [SYH173; NBAD137]
- 1932-05-00 — Two Bahá'ís from Germany settled in Sofia, Bulgaria to assist Marion Jack. Lina and George Benke had become Bahá'ís in Leipzig after hearing of the Faith from Harlan and Grace Ober and Alma Knobloch. From June 1931 and later in May 1932 the couple travelled to Sofia and settled there as pioneers where their contacts were mostly in the Esperanto community. In the few months they were there George travelled to Stara Zagora, Varna and Plovdiv, all towns some distance from Sofia. He was elderly and in frail health and passed away in November, 1932. [SYH176]
- 1932-11-23 —
The passing of George Adam Benke (b. Fredericksfelt, south Russia in 1878) in Sofia, Bulgaria. Shoghi Effendi declared him to be "the first European martyr. [BW5:416–418, LDG1p263]
- He had become a Bahá'í as a result of the visit of Harlan and Grace Ober to Leipzig in 1920 and the further efforts of Miss Alma Knoblock. [BW5p416]
- He translated the works of Bahálláh that had been translated into Russian by Thomansky and Rosenberg.
- In June of 1931 he was called upon to help Marion Jack in Sofia where is knowledge of Russian facilitated his efforts. He stayed for three months.
- Again in 1932 he was asked to go to Sofia where he passed away after a very short period of discomfort.
- Shoghi Effendi called him the first European martyr. [LDG1:263; MC359]
- Photo 1 of his gravesite in Sofia.
- Photo 2 of his headstone.
- 1934-07-00 — The formation of a Spiritual Assembly, the first in the Balkans, elected in Sofia in July, 1934 by a community of thirty or more.
[BW6p133 NBAD138]
- 1935-11-24 —
The passing of Dr. Howard Luxmoore Carpenter (b. 1906, d. 24 November 1935). He was buried at the Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, California. [Find a grave]
- A graduate of the Stanford Medical School in 1932.
- He married Mardiyyih Nabil (later Marzieh Gail) in 1929, and in 1932 he and his wife left San Francisco for Vienna, where he took a medical course, and afterward at the Guardian's direction traveled through Central Europe and the Balkans. With Martha Root in Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, he then spent five weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria, assisting Miss Marion Jack, after which he stopped briefly in Saloniki and went on to Tirana, Albania, to visit Refo Chapary. He then left for Haifa, where he stayed three weeks on his way to Tihran.
- In Iran, notwithstanding the efforts of the Assembly, he was prevented for more than one year from obtaining a medical license. His health failed, and he was bedridden for many months. At last his physical condition improved, he resumed activities as a member of the Unity of the East and West Committee, and the authorities granted him a license to practise medicine. At this time he was stricken with paralysis. He lay seven months in a hospital, after which Mr. and Mrs. Rahmat 'Alá'í invited him to their home, surrounding him with the same loving care which they had given Keith Ransom-Kehler the year before. His doctors advised a return to the United States as his only hope for recovery; he braved the long journey across the desert by motor, the presence of the 'Ala'is, who escorted him to Haifa, helping him to survive it.
- After nine days in Haifa, during which the Guardian visited him daily, he took a ship for New York where he was greeted by the National Spiritual Assembly, and then left by way of the Panama Canal for San Francisco. Here he had recourse to the best medical authorities, but was pronounced incurable. He passed away November 24, 1935 . He is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in Berkeley. The Bahá'í service held for him was conducted by Leroy Ioas of San Francisco; Bahá'ís of Berkeley, Oakland, Geyserville, San Francisco and Santa Paula were present, and the words of Bahá'u'lláh on immortality radiated such power as to efface all thought of death. [BW6 p491-493]
- See Shoghi Effendi's tribute to him where he said:
Next to the late Mrs. Ransom-Kehler he may, indeed, be well considered as the foremost American believer who has, in the last few years, been assisted in rendering invaluable help to the Persian believers in their efforts for the establishment of the Administration in their country… .
["Uncompiled Published Letters"]
- 1954-03-25 —
The passing of Marion Jack (General Jack) (b. St. John, New Brunswick) at her pioneer post in Sofia, Bulgaria at the age of 87. She had been at her post since 1931. [BWNS385; Never be Afraid to Dare p. 227]
- Shoghi Effendi called her 'a shining example to pioneers of present and future generations of East and West'. [CF163]
- For her obituary see BW12:674–7.
- See also BFA2155; MC359.
- For a photo of her gravestone see CBNOct1972p.10.
- See Bahá'í Chronicles for a biography.
- For a photo by the Bahá'ís of Sofia see BW5p464.
- See also Marion Jack: Immortal Heroine by Jan Jasion
- See CBN October1979 for tributes as well as a photo of her gravesite.
- See The Early Years of the British Bahá'í Community (1898-1911) p128-129.
- 1991-09-00 —
The Bahá'ís of Bulgaria held their first National Conference in Plovdiv. Earlier that year they had elected local spiritual assemblies in Plovdiv, Sofia, Stara Zagora and Blagoevgrad.
- In November the Bahá'í Faith was officially registered as a religion at the Directorate of Religions. They held their first National Convention in 1992. [Nation Website]
- 1992-04-21 —
The National Spiritual Assembly of Bulgaria was formed with its seat in Sofia. [CBN Jan92 p2, BINS270:1; BW92–3:119; VV121; Nation Website]
- The National Convention was attended by long-time pioneer to the country, Annemarie Kruger, the granddaughter of Dr August Forel.
- For picture see BINS279:9.
- 1996-03-23 — The first National Women's Seminar of Bulgaria was held in Sofia, organized by the European Task Force for Women. [BINS365:8]
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