# Chase, Thornton

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 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: Robert Stockman, Chase, Thornton, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Chase, Thornton (1847–1912)
> First person in the West to become a steadfast Bahá’í; one of the founders and
> chief builders of the Chicago Bahá’í community; included by Shoghi Effendi among
> a number of prominent early Bahá’ís of the West whom he designated as
> "Disciples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá."
> 
> ARTICLE OUTLINE:                                        FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE
> Family and Early Life                           James Brown Thornton Chase was born on 22
> Years of Spiritual Search                       February 1847 in Springfield, Massachusetts. His
> Activities as a Bahá’í                         parents, Jotham Gould Chase and Sarah Cutts S.
> G. Thornton Chase, were New Englanders of
> ARTICLE RESOURCES:
> English stock and Baptist religious background. His
> Notes                                          father, a wealthy businessman, was also a singer
> Other Sources and Related Reading              and an amateur scientist. The death of Thornton’s
> mother eighteen days after he was born
> profoundly shaped his subsequent development. Jotham remarried three years later, and the couple
> soon adopted three girls, but Chase and his stepmother seem not to have bonded. Chase described his
> childhood as "loveless and lonely," with "neither mother, sister nor brother."1 The inner vacuum he felt
> apparently set him on a quest for love that culminated in his mystical interests.
> 
> For four years, from the age of thirteen through
> sixteen, Chase lived in Newton, Massachusetts,
> with the Reverend Samuel Francis Smith, a
> prominent Baptist clergyman. In July 1863 Chase
> was accepted by Brown University, but, instead of
> attending, he enlisted in the Union Army to fight
> in the Civil War. In early 1864, just before his
> 26th US Colored Troops on parade, 1865. Library of Congress. seventeenth birthday, Chase went to Philadelphia
> for one month’s training in a school for officers of
> black infantry units. By May, Chase was second in command of one hundred men, Company K of the
> Twenty-sixth United States Colored Troops. Two months later, on 5 and 7 July, the unit fought two
> battles in South Carolina, south of Charleston; Chase was slightly wounded by an exploding cannon,
> which permanently impaired the hearing in his left ear. By the end of the war in April 1865, he had
> been promoted to captain and headed his own company.
> 
> YEARS OF SPIRITUAL SEARCH
> After the war Chase attended Brown University but dropped out before completing his second semester.
> He returned to Springfield, where he worked as a salesman for his father’s timber business, and on 11
> May 1870 he married Annie Elizabeth Allyn of Bristol, Rhode Island. The couple had two children: Sarah
> Thornton (1871) and Jessamine Allyn (1874). Chase started his own specialty lumber business in
> Springfield, directed the choir of the First Baptist Church, and served as an officer in one of the city’s
> musical organizations.
> 
> In 1872 Chase’s business failed. Unable to obtain work in Springfield, Chase moved to Boston, where he
> obtained a meager living through singing and acting. 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." 2
> The experience pulled him back from the brink of self-destruction, renewed his hope, and gave further
> impetus to his religious search.
> 
> When employment opportunities in Boston proved inadequate, Chase moved to Fort Howard (Green
> Bay), Wisconsin, where he taught school for a time. Then he moved to Chicago, where he acted in
> McVicker’s Theater, one of the better-known theaters in the city. He subsequently obtained teaching
> and music jobs in Kansas and lived for a time in Del Norte, Colorado.
> 
> While Chase searched for meaningful work, Annie and the two children remained in Springfield with her
> mother, waiting for him to settle and support his family. Finally, in the mid-1870s, she 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 remained in Newport, Rhode Island, where she died in 1918. Chase’s older
> daughter, Sarah, married in 1895 and had five children before dying suddenly in 1908. Chase’s second
> daughter, Jessamine, who never married, became a schoolteacher and musician, like her father. She
> died in 1947.
> 
> Chase apparently was devastated by the divorce. Sources
> indicate that he went into the mountains of Colorado for a time,
> wandering in search of gold and silver, until he rallied and picked
> up the pieces of his life. On 6 May 1880 he married Eleanor
> Francisca Hockett (5 January 1858–12 August 1933), and the
> couple set up residence in Pueblo. Once again, Chase became
> extremely active in music, directing a succession of musical and
> theatrical groups. Drawing on his experience as a prospector, he
> invented and patented a prospector’s pick. He also began to
> publish poetry in local newspapers and magazines; one poem,
> which focuses on Jesus’s love for humanity, highlights Chase’s
> religious faith.
> 
> In 1882 Chase moved to Denver and joined the local
> Swedenborgian church. Swedenborgianism, which emphasized a
> metaphorical interpretation of the Bible and stressed a mystical
> approach to Jesus and Christianity, differed from the strict
> Protestantism of the Baptist Church of Chase’s childhood. After
> five years, however, the Denver church became wracked by
> doctrinal disputes. At about that time, Chase abandoned it and
> Thornton Chase. National Bahá’í Archives, United   all other Christian churches. He initiated a broader religious
> States.
> search and began to read a wide variety of books about religion.
> 
> Chase continued to earn his living in various ways, as a journalist, an actor in Denver, and 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 its entire Colorado operation. In 1889 the company promoted him and
> moved him to its Santa Cruz and San Francisco offices. Chase’s only son, William Jotham Thornton
> Chase, was born in Santa Cruz on 28 June 1889 (d. 2 March 1967).
> 
> In California, Thornton Chase continued his religious search, combining it with his work. In 1893 he
> published a booklet called Sketches that uses biblical and religious stories to explain why people should
> purchase life insurance for themselves. The booklet reveals Chase as a religious seeker familiar with all
> the major religions.
> 
> ACTIVITIES AS A BAHÁ’Í
> About 1893 Union Mutual transferred Chase to Chicago, the headquarters for all company operations
> west of the Appalachian Mountains. 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 claimed that God had recently "walked upon the earth." 3 Chase investigated and discovered
> that the man was Ibrahim Kheiralla, a Bahá’í from Beirut who had recently come to the United States,
> and that he taught the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, a Messenger of God, in fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
> Chase and a small group of Chicagoans began to study the Bahá’í Faith with Kheiralla. Chase indicates
> that 5 June 1894 was a crucial date for the class; probably it was the day the class was organized. By
> 1895 Chase had completed the class and had become a Bahá’í. At least three other Americans
> completed the class and accepted the new religion before Chase, but subsequently these three lost
> interest in the Bahá’í Faith. Thus, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá recognized Chase as "the first American believer," 4 and
> Shoghi Effendi later described him as "indeed the first to embrace the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in the
> Western world." 5
> 
> 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, including seven hundred in Chicago. Chase gave a class
> on the Bahá’í Faith, wrote numerous letters to interested seekers, and taught the Faith widely during
> his frequent travels for his company.
> 
> In 1899 American Bahá’ís returning from a pilgrimage to the
> Bahá’í holy places in Ottoman Palestine (See: Bahá’í World
> Center) brought to North America rudimentary knowledge of the
> Bahá’í administrative system (See: Administration, Bahá’í).
> Chase became actively involved in administering the Chicago
> Bahá’í community, first in November 1899, when the community
> elected 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. Starting in
> 1898, Ibrahim Kheiralla began to insist on a formal role as
> leader of the American Bahá’ís. Chase was one of those who
> tried unsuccessfully to help Kheiralla realize the
> inappropriateness of his demand, and subsequently Chase
> played a central part in reorganizing the Bahá’í community
> independently of Kheiralla.
> 
> In 1900 and 1901 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent four knowledgeable Persians
> —‘Abdu’l Karím Tihrání, Hájí Mírzá Hasan Khurásání, Mírzá
> Asadu’lláh Isfahání, and Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl Gulpáygání—to the         Thornton Chase. National Bahá’í Archives, United
> States.
> United States to deepen the Bahá’ís’ knowledge of their religion.
> Chase arranged for the latter two visitors to stay in the Chicago Bahá’í Center and moved into the
> center with them when his wife had to go to New England for a year to handle legal matters connected
> with the death of his stepmother in Springfield.
> 
> Having 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
> an election that replaced the Board of Council with 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 of the House of Spirituality, an office he retained until he moved to California 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, explaining the Bahá’í holy days and the period of fasting, thereby establishing their observance
> in North America.
> Chase’s writing experience proved useful in the effort to edit and publish Bahá’í literature. In 1900
> Chase and three other Chicago Bahá’í businessmen founded the Behais Supply and Publishing Board of
> Chicago. In the fall of 1902, the publisher 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 Persian and Arabic Bahá’í names and terms.
> Chase was the principal editor of the society’s literature and one of its principal financiers. The society
> published several Bahá’í pamphlets that Chase wrote.
> 
> In 1907 Chase was able to go on pilgrimage to Ottoman Palestine. Though he could be with ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá in Acre for only three days, the experience transformed Chase. ‘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 that was published in 1908 as In Galilee.
> The short work gives a detailed and poignant description of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s home and family in Acre, as
> well as a moving description of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. The work remains an important example of the
> genre commonly known as pilgrim’s notes; thoughtful and reflective, it is of higher quality than most.
> 
> Next, Chase turned his thoughts to an introductory book on the
> Bahá’í Faith, The Bahai Revelation, published in 1909. One of the
> most comprehensive and accurate introductions to the Bahá’í
> Faith written by an early Western Bahá’í, the work emphasizes
> the Bahá’í teachings as a vehicle for personal spiritual
> transformation. It continued to be reprinted until the 1920s.
> 
> In late 1909 the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company,
> concerned about the amount of time Chase was spending on his
> religious activities, transferred Chase to Los Angeles, hoping that
> a location remote from Bahá’í activity would decrease his
> Thornton Chase climbing Mount Carmel, 1907.
> opportunities to serve his religion. Chase considered resigning
> National Bahá’í Archives, United States.    from the company, but at the age of sixty-two he found it
> impossible to obtain another job, and he had to support his wife,
> his son in college, and his elderly mother-in-law, none of whom had become Bahá’í. Consequently,
> Chase had no choice but to accept the new position, even though it paid much less than he had been
> earning.
> 
> Chase still traveled extensively for his company as far north as Seattle and as far east as Denver,
> travels that gave him opportunities to visit the rapidly developing Bahá’í communities of the Rocky
> Mountain and Pacific states. At home he helped to organize the Los Angeles Bahá’ís. In 1910 they
> elected Chase a member of their first five-member governing board and established their first monthly
> meetings. During this period Chase returned to writing poetry, primarily on the Bahá’í Faith.
> 
> Thornton Chase became ill, suddenly and unexpectedly, while traveling in late September 1912.
> Following abdominal surgery, he lay gravely ill in a Los Angeles hospital. On 27 September the Bahá’ís
> wired the news to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who was visiting the United States at the time and had stopped briefly
> to rest in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, en route to San Francisco. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His party were
> saddened by the news. Chase died on the evening of 30 September, just a day before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> arrived in California, and was buried on 4 October in Inglewood Park Cemetery. Bahá’ís throughout the
> United States sent messages eulogizing Chase for his intelligence, his consultative approach to
> problems, his constant advocacy of the need for organization, and his loving disposition.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made a special trip to Los Angeles to visit Chase’s grave. On 19 October, accompanied by
> about twenty-five Bahá’ís, He took a tram to the cemetery, walked solemnly and directly to the
> gravesite, and carefully covered it with flowers. He then chanted Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet of Visitation, which
> is recited in the Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, and a prayer for the departed. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> reportedly praised Chase’s qualities: "During his lifetime he bore many trials and vicissitudes, but he
> was very patient and long-suffering. He had a heart most illuminated, a spirit most rejoiced; his hope
> was to serve the world of humanity. . . ." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stated that Chase "will not be forgotten" and
> that his worth was not known then but would become "inestimably dear." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá instructed the
> Bahá’ís to visit Chase’s grave, to bring flowers on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s behalf, and to "have the utmost
> consideration for the members of his family." 6 At the end of His visit, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knelt and kissed the
> grave.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, in God Passes By , his history of the first Bahá’í
> century, mentions the "poignant sight" of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá kissing
> the tombstone of "His beloved disciple" as one of the scenes
> from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to the West that will never "be effaced
> from memory."7 Shoghi Effendi also included Chase among
> outstanding early Bahá’í’s of the West whom he designated as
> "Disciples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá." 8
> 
> Adhering to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s instructions, the American Bahá’í
> community holds an annual commemoration at Chase’s grave on
> the Sunday nearest to the date of his death. His importance as
> an early North American Bahá’í thinker, publicist, administrator,
> and organizer is still underappreciated, however. 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.
> 
> Grave of Thornton Chase, Inglewood, California.
> Author: Robert H. Stockman                                              National Bahá’í Archives, United States.
> 
> © 2009 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. Terms of Use.
> 
> Notes:
> 1. Thornton Chase, letter to Julia Culver, 27 May 1909, Thornton Chase Papers, National Bahá’í Archives,
> United States, Wilmette, IL.
> 2. Thornton Chase, letter to Louise Waite, 1 Sept. 1909, Chase Papers.
> 3. Quoted in Carl Scheffler, "Thornton Chase: First American Bahá’í," World Order os 11 (1945): 153.
> 4. Quoted in Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, new ed. (Wilmette, IL, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974,
> 2004 printing) 257.
> 5. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By 288.
> 6. Quoted in Ahmad Sohrab, "Abdul-Baha at the Grave of Thornton Chase, Los Angeles, California, October
> 19, 1912," Star of the West 3.13 (1912): 14–15.
> 7. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By 291–92.
> 8. "Disciples of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá," The Bahá’í World, vol. 3: 1928–30 (New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee,
> 1930) 84–85; and vol. 4: 1930–32 (New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1933) 118–19.
> 
> Understanding the Citations
> Citing Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project Articles
> Other Sources and Related Reading:
> Much of this article is based on Robert Stockman’s Thornton Chase: First American Bahá’í (Wilmette, IL,
> USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2002). See also Stockman’s The Bahá’í Faith in America, vol. 1: Origins,
> 1892–1900 (Wilmette, IL, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985) and The Bahá’í Faith in America, vol. 2:
> Early Expansion, 1900–1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995). A biographical sketch appears in O. Z.
> Whitehead, Some Early Bahá’ís of the West (Oxford: George Ronald, 1976) 1–12. For an account related to
> Chase’s passing, see "Thornton Chase, February 22, 1847–September 30, 1912," Star of the West 3.12
> (1912): 5–7. See also Mahmúd Zarqání, Mahmúd’s Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Mahmúd-i-Zarqání Chronicling
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Journey to America, trans. Mohi Sobhani and Shirley Macias (Oxford: George Ronald, 1998)
> 293, 336–37; and H. M. Balyuzi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Centre of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, 2nd ed. (Oxford:
> George Ronald, 1987) 309–10. The Thornton Chase Papers in the National Bahá’í Archives, United States,
> contain approximately fifteen hundred letters and about sixty-seven essays and talks by Chase and a
> hundred letters to him.
> Published works by Thornton Chase include The Bahá’í Revelation (New York: Bahai Publishing Committee,
> 1928) and available online at http://bahai-library.com/file.php5?file=chase_bahai_revelation&language=All
> (accessed 13 Jan. 2009); and In Galilee, published in In Galilee, and, In Wonderland (Los Angeles:
> Kalimát, 1985) and available online at http://bahai-library.com/books/galilee.html      (accessed 13 Jan.
> 2009). Chase also published three pamphlets: Before Abraham Was I Am (Chicago: Bahai Publishing
> Society, 1902 [i.e., 1903]); The Serpent (Chicago: n.p., 1900); and What Went Ye Out for to See?
> ([Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society], 1904). See also an article entitled "The Gift of God," World Order os
> 11 (1945): 147–51, and excerpts from his letters published as "Impressions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His
> Station," World Order ns 25.1 (1993): 12–23.
> 
> Understanding the Citations
> Citing Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project Articles
>
> — *Chase, Thornton (Used by permission of the curator)*