# Martha L. Root: In Memoriam

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: unknown, Martha L. Root: In Memoriam, New York: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1942, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Martha L. Root1
> 
> “And the Queen,” said Martha Root, “met me at the stairs. I saw her standing there, a queen indeed, with her
> flowing black velvet dress and strands of marvelous pearls. … We had tea in her inner library.”
> I thought as I gazed at that small blue-clad figure eagerly sitting forward on her chair in my simple living-
> room, that this same beloved “Martha” who was now relating to me the fairy story of her adventures was
> identical with the one whom the Queen of Roumania had welcomed five times to her palace. There could be no
> other. Martha’s love had shown out upon and drawn the Queen, as it now did me.
> “Whosoever has lost himself has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof”, ‘Abdu’l-Baha had said. 2 How
> literally true this had proved to be for Martha Root! She had become a personage to whom the great scholars of
> the different countries had listened with respect, for whom the palace doors of many rulers had opened. But
> the woman who had talked intimately with Thomas Masaryk, and Eduard Benes; who had had audience with
> King Faisal of Iraq; who had four times visited Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia; who said of King
> Haakon, “This spiritually lovable King of Norway who will never talk about himself … made me very happy”;
> who was the intimate of Queen Marie—to mention some of the illustrious names—made no display of learning,
> nor did she depend on
> 
> 1   In memoriam, The Bahá’í World 1938–1940, pp. 643–8.
> 2   Quoted by Shahnaz Waite in ‘Meditation, supplication and service’, Star of the West, vol. 17, no. 11, p. 348.
> 
> 644                                      The Bahá’í World 1938–1940, vol. 8
> 
> Miss Martha L. Root
> Famous international Baha’í teacher
> 
> “Thou art really a herald of the Kingdom and a harbinger of the Covenant and doest self-sacrifice. Thou
> showiest kindness to all nations; thou art sowing a seed that shall in the long run give rise to thousands of
> harvests; thou art planting a tree that shall till eternity put forth leaves, blossoms and fruits, and whose
> shadow shall day by day grow in magnitude.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)
> dress or personal appearance. The true love is regal in its freedom from self-consciousness and fear; the true
> wisdom is unabashed in the presence of learning, and it was in these ways that she found congeniality with the
> great of the five continents which she had traveled.
> Whoever you were, her loving interest was her introduction to you. There was no one, high or low, who had
> not felt that. Moreover she had a message for you, a Message from a King, the Greatest of All. There was a quiet
> stateliness in her manner, an element of ceremony. “Make every meeting an occasion,” she instructed me.
> “Give something always, if only a flower, some candy or fruit. Pray that they will accept from you the Greater
> Gift.”
> *   *   *    *
> Who was Martha Root? What was the light her past threw upon such a career? She was born 10 August 1872
> at Richwood, Ohio, of pioneer American stock. Her family moved to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, a town
> to which Martha’s homing instincts always turned in her later travels. She graduated from Oberlin and
> attended the University of Chicago. She was a school teacher, then a newspaper woman. One day after a
> chance meeting with a Baha’í trav-
> In Memoriam: Martha L. Root                                       645
> 
> eler in a restaurant in Pittsburgh, she heard the Message of Baha’u’llah. At that moment the “Concourse on
> high”, passed down its chalices of pure light. The star of Martha’s destiny began to rise. A signal to that star was
> to use her connection with the press to call together a mass meeting of four hundred in the Schenley Hotel in
> Pittsburgh to hear ‘Abdu’l-Baha speak in His journey from east to west in 1912.
> In 1919 in answer to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s call to American believers to scatter and spread the Faith of Baha’u’llah,
> Martha, after a white moment of decision, embarked upon her world journeys as an ambassador of the Oneness
> of Mankind. On the ship bound for South America she called the people together and informed them of the
> nature of her mission. In her subsequent travels in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, Russia happened to be
> the only country she did not visit. The spirit of her world embracing love vibrated over the wires of radio
> stations from Cape Town to Oslo. Sheaves of newspaper clippings brought back her words to us from remote
> ports. A steady stream of articles appeared in which the flash of her insight into people and circumstances
> transported us to Belgrade, Athens, Stockholm, to Reykjavik (capital of Iceland), Antwerp or Adrianople. In
> Iran she continued her researches into the life of Tahirih, heroic woman pioneer and martyr in the time of the
> Bab, with whom the soul of Martha seemed mysteriously linked.
> Her sense of Mission is illustrated by the fact that she carried with her a collection of photographs of the
> various rulers to whom Baha’u’llah had addressed His Epistles. Among these were the Czar of Russia, Napoleon
> III, Pope Pius IX, Nasiri’d-Dín Shah, Queen Victoria—it was a young picture of the Queen in accordance with the
> history of the times. The spirit of Martha’s going forth was like that of Badí‘, the youth who, in the time of
> Baha’u’llah volunteered to deliver the Tablet to the Shah of Persia knowing that he would suffer death at the
> hands of an antagonistic government. The spirit of renunciation expressed itself, now, in this modern apostle of
> Baha’u’llah in subtle ways comparable in degree. She had become the embodiment of a love which does not
> passively wait, but which goes forth with a wholehearted reckless spending of personality, of time, of strength.
> There was the bleak daily discipline of a meticulous economy, the dedication of moments of exhaustion to the
> service of her Cause: her undeviating back-breaking obedience to the star she followed. In 1935, for example,
> we find her writing from Sweden that although very ill that fact must not impede progress in teaching the
> Cause of God. Her health shaken, she returned for one of her occasional visits to America in 1936, renewed her
> association with her beloved friends and family. Then in May, 1937, this brave heart again “took sail”.
> I suppose there were many of us across the United States who had a troubling sense of finality as we caught
> through train windows the last tender flash of Martha’s blue eyes. Her boat left San Francisco 20 May, docked
> for a few hours in Honolulu, then sailed for Japan. With the captain’s cooperation she lectured on the boat. “I
> spoke for an hour,” she said, “and questions and answers followed for an hour. There were ten religions and
> ten nations represented. … There were several young Japanese professors present returning from
> postgraduate studies in Europe. Who can tell how far reaching are the words of truth? She arrived in Tokyo 3
> June for a month of brilliant teaching activity, then moved on to Shanghai early in that fateful July of the
> Japanese bombardment. She escaped under gunfire with other Americans to Manila on the night of the
> earthquakes. After about four months of intensive teaching she embarked on a small Oriental steamer for
> Bombay, arriving there from Ceylon 15 October.
> The fifteen months of Martha’s stay in India were the crowning triumph of her efforts, a sustained splendor
> of achievement. The Baha’ís of India and Burma wrote to our 1938 Convention:
> “The most outstanding feature in the year under report has been the teaching activities of our beloved
> sister Miss Martha L. Root. This star servant of Bahá’u’lláh toured from Bombay to Mandalay, and from
> Srinagar to Colombo. Wherever she went, she delivered the message of Bahá’u’lláh in
> 646                                             The Bahá’í World 1938–1940, vol. 8
> 
> her own convincing way, and published the divine Cause amongst all the educated people of this great
> continent. … In Karachi she attended the 10th Convention of the Baha’ís of India and Burma and probably
> did the greatest service of her life. … She stayed in that town for three months and got the book Ṭáhirih
> the Pure printed and mailed the world over. … In Shimla she graced the first Baha’í Summer School with
> her presence and drew down the blessings of God on this institution. … Miss Martha Root has opened the
> whole of India for us, and it now devolves upon us to utilize these openings and produce the best of
> results.”
> After her final three months tour of the Northern India Universities where her addresses had been
> enthusiastically received by thousands of progressive youth, she returned to Bombay. A gathering of the
> friends saw her off for Australia on the steamship Straithard 29 December 1938.
> After visiting Australia and New Zealand Martha Root was on her way home in the spring of 1939. At
> Honolulu, on that island between two hemispheres, she was obliged to leave the boat because of illness. It was
> here after an illness of months that the soul of Martha undertook the journey “from earth to heaven”. The date
> was 28 September 1939. The Guardian, whose words had continually cheered her heart with his tender
> concern, cabled the National Spiritual Assembly:
> Martha’s unnumbered admirers throughout Bahá’í world lament with me (the) earthly extinction (of) her
> heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her elevation (to) rightful position (in) galaxy (of) Bahá’í
> immortals. Posterity will establish her as foremost Hand which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s will has raised up (in) first
> Bahá’í century. Present generation (of) her fellow-believers recognize her (to be the) first, finest fruit
> (which the Formative Age (of the) Faith (of) Bahá’u’lláh has yet produced. Advise holding befitting
> memorial gathering (in) Temple (to) honor one whose acts shed imperishable lustre (on) American
> Bahá’í community. Impelled (to) share with National Assembly expenses (of) erection (of) monument
> (in) symbolic spot,3 (the) meeting-place (of) East (and) West, to both (of) which she unsparingly
> dedicated (the) full force (of her) mighty energies.4
> *   *   *    *
> In a letter dated 20 October 1939, addressed to Roy C. Wilhelm, treasurer, the Guardian, through his
> secretary, refers to the passing of Miss Martha L. Root.
> The very sad and indeed distressing news of the passing away of our beloved Martha was a great shock to
> the Guardian, who feels unutterably sorry at this heavy blow sustained by the Cause. Her departure
> constitutes the heaviest blow which the teaching force not only in America but throughout the entire
> Bahá’í world has sustained since the passing of our beloved Master. May the memory of the distinguished
> services it had been her unique privilege to render in so many fields and over such a long and
> uninterrupted period of years serve as a source of continued inspiration to the present-day and future
> generations of Bahá’í teachers, to whom she will indeed ever be the very embodiment of those teaching
> qualities which only a few Bahá’í teachers, whether in the East or the West, can claim to have attained.
> To you, and to all the dear American friends who are now so profoundly deploring beloved Martha’s
> passing, the Guardian feels moved to convey the assurances of his deepest and most loving sympathy in
> your great bereavement. May Bahá’u’lláh comfort your grief-stricken hearts, and cause this calamity to
> further cement the unity, deepen the devotion and increase the resourcefulness of the American
> believers, and in particular those dear pioneers who are so indefatigably laboring in foreign and distant
> 
> 3     Honolulu; for a photograph of the monument, see The Bahá'í World, vol. 9, p. 65. A memorial gathering was held at the House of
> Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, on 29 October 1939. (Shoghi Effendi, This Decisive Hour, p. 42)
> 4     Shoghi Effendi, This Decisive Hour, p. 42.
> In Memoriam: Martha L. Root                                      647
> 
> fields.
> [In the Guardian’s hand:] “The passing of dearest Martha and the circumstances of her severe and painful
> illness have brought profound sorrow, but I rejoice at the glory and joy that must be hers and which she
> fully deserves in the Abhá Paradise.”
> “Sometimes I have asked myself,” Martha Root had said, musing upon the life of Tahirih, “was Tahirih great
> enough instantly to say, ‘O God, I give my life to establish this Faith among mankind!’ or did she, too, need to be
> trained by the Infinite God to long to give her life as a martyr to serve this new universal Revelation?” That that
> longing did come to fill Martha’s whole being can be the only explanation of her remarkable career. As she
> pioneered further into the realms of the spirit a Will greater than her own resolve moved her. She became a
> lamp carrying a Light. Or you might say the abnegation of her very self was comparable to the crushing of the
> rose in the process of attar-making: the rare attar of a divine love drifted through every doorway and thrilled
> every heart.
> As we bid farewell to her familiar, loved presence among us we, all the world let us echo her own words to
> her beloved friends in India: “I shall not say ‘Good-bye’, I couldn’t it hurts my heart so! But we shall say: ‘Allah-
> u-Abha’! Always, Allah-u-Abha’.”
> Doris Mckay
> Copy of the letter of her Highness Princess Olga of Yugoslavia
> Belgrade, 7 March 1940. Dear Mrs Ilie:
> I was deeply touched by your kind sympathy on the death of my uncle and thank you very much for sharing
> in it. He seemed too young to leave us and had been rejoicing to settle down in Greece once more. It is strange
> that neither he nor my beloved Father were destined to do so.
> I am deeply distressed to hear of the death of good Miss Martha Root, as I had no idea of it. We always
> enjoyed her visits in the past. She was so kind and gentle and a real worker for Peace. I am sure she will be
> sadly missed in her work.
> Thanking you again for your kind thought in my bereavement,
> I remain
> Sincerely yours,
> Olga.
> Martha the blessed
> By T. L. Vaswani
> Here, in my quiet retreat the “Krishta Kunj”,5 comes to me the news that Miss Martha L. Root has passed on!
> But a year ago she was here in Hyderabad—a guest of our spiritual assembly, the Satsang. She came with
> the Baha’í message—essentially our own—of the unity of races, of the brotherhood of religions, of a new world
> order based on peace and love.
> In her advanced age—she was almost 70—she went through her daily work in the spirit of service and self-
> sacrifice! To many in many lands she gave the message of her great Guru–‘Abdu’l-Baha. The Message glowed
> not alone with a great ideal but, also, with the beauty of the life. It was a dedicated life. My dear loving brother,
> Mr Isfandiar K. B. Bakhtiari, who acted as her secretary in Sind, writes to me in the course of a letter from
> Karachi:
> 
> 5   T. L. Vaswani residence in Karachi.
> 648                                          The Bahá’í World 1938–1940, vol. 8
> 
> “I need not say how much I am grieved at the passing away of our spiritual mother, Miss Martha L. Root.
> A month ago I got the news from Iran: and I was eagerly waiting to hear from America to know of the
> exact day on which she departed this world.
> “I have learnt from Iran of the Guardian’s telegram to the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran, stating the
> Guardian’s feelings on receipt of the news of her passing away so soon.”
> Mr Bakhtiari kindly enclosed a copy of a letter which he recently received from her when she was at
> Honolulu. She went so far to give the Message of her Master. In the course of her letter she writes:
> “I have been here [in Honolulu, Hawaii) since 7 June; have been very ill and only gaining very slowly.
> Please pray the Aḥmad Tablet for me, all of you! I pray for you. Deepest, tenderest love for ever to you all
> in India.”
> The letter reflects the tender, beautiful love of her radiant heart.
> On receiving the news from my Iranian brother, Mr Isfandiar K. B. Bakhtiari, I wrote the following:
> “Let not your sweet loving hearts be troubled. She lives in the Lord she adored and served with all her
> mind and heart and soul.
> “There is no death! The stars sink but to rise again upon a fairer shore: and she, dear sister of my heart,
> goes to greet kindred spirits and shine for evermore.
> In Memoriam: Martha L. Root                                       649
> 
> “Sister Martha Root! Thou art not dead! Thou hast but gone before! And still to me is near thy soul,
> radiant, immortal, pure.”
> It may be hoped arrangements will soon be made for a commemoration meeting in the Hall of Baha’í
> Spiritual Assembly, Karachi.
> Nobly, bravely, she played her part. Beautiful was her devotion to her Guru, and beautiful her faith in the
> power of prayer. To Allah-u-Abha she dedicated her life: in Allah-u-Abha she now abides. Her living spirit has
> passed the gates of the grave. And many in many lands will call her Blessed!
> Martha Root dies in Honolulu
> Baha’í lecturer well known in Pasadena
> Word has just been received from Honolulu of the passing of Miss Martha Root in that city where for some
> months she has been detained by illness. Miss Root will be remembered in Pasadena especially for her very
> interesting lectures on her experiences in teaching the way to peace in universities throughout the world, and
> for her very enthusiastic broadcasts on the subject of Esperanto, which language she had acquired through
> intimate association with Miss Zamenhof, daughter of its inventor.
> Advanced Bahá’í plan
> For more than 20 years Miss Root has been devoting her life to the advancement of the Baha’í plan for
> universal peace and she is equally as well known in the Orient as in the Occident. Modest and simple in her
> manner, with a moving earnestness and loving self-sacrifice, she has gone her way attracting everyone where
> she went by her ardent and loving devotion to the cause of peace as adumbrated in the teachings of Baha’u’llah.
> It was she who met and transformed the life of Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania, who did not hesitate to
> make public declaration of her acceptance of the Baha’í faith. It was she whose appeal to the youth of India and
> Burma a year ago brought about a real stampede for information in all the universities in those countries. It
> was she who went into the heart of Iran (Persia), meeting with thousands of people all over the country, who
> have reached out beyond the confines of religious fanaticism, have seen the human race as one family and the
> spiritual revelations of the past and present as one continuous unfolding of the eternal Truth of God which now
> is given to the world in all the fullness of a universal conception.
> Paid own expenses
> Traveling alone, more frequently than not in third class accommodations, defraying her own expenses by
> her writing, for she was a journalist of note, she felt no sacrifice too great, no effort too strenuous, no privation
> too rigorous to impede her progress or dampen her ardor.
> Miss Root was lecturing in China when the siege of Shanghai necessitated the evacuation of the city and she
> with many other Americans was forced to leave at a moment’s notice for Manila. Arrived there she
> immediately began her work when the earthquake and subsequent fire consumed what very scant supply of
> clothing she had been able to carry from China. As soon as possible she took passage on a small Oriental
> steamer, third class for Bombay, and there she resumed her work. She visited all India and then went to
> Australia and New Zealand and she was just returning to America from there when she was obliged to leave the
> steamer at Honolulu because of illness.
> Carried peace banner
> Commenting on her life today, a friend writes:
> “Miss Root’s passing will be mourned throughout the world and a day for general commemoration of her
> beautiful life will be observed in the near future. Like the disciples of old she carried the Baha’í banner of peace
> 650                                     The Bahá’í World 1938–1940, vol. 8
> 
> and reconciliation into the very heart of religious fanaticism and prejudice, breaking down the barriers which
> have divided the human race, teaching unity and not uniformity, consultation and not competition, loving all,
> serving all, sacrificing for all, knowing no difference of color, race or creed. The world has produced no greater
> soul.”
>
> — *Martha L. Root: In Memoriam (Used by permission of the curator)*