# Dodge, Arther Pillsbury

*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: Richard Francis, Dodge, Arther Pillsbury, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Dodge, Arther Pillsbury
> 
> Richard Francis
> 
> 1998
> 
> Arthur Pillsbury Dodge was born May 28, 1849 in Enfield, New Hampshire.
> He was an eighth-generation New Englander with ancestors having immigrated to
> America in 1629.
> 
> Although Arthur Dodge had little formal education, he received
> noted success in several disciplines, becoming a self-made man. As a young man,
> he was a reporter for the Manchester Union Leader. He later studied law on his
> own and in 1879, was admitted to the New Hampshire bar. He then started his own
> law practice in Manchester representing business concerns. In 1880, he published
> a biographical profile of the honorable Phinehas Adams, a prominent Manchester
> businessman.
> 
> Arthur Dodge moved his law practice to Boston and in 1886, founded
> and published the New England Magazine, naming Edward Everett Hale (author
> of The Man Without a Country) as its first editor. After successfully
> establishing this as well as two other magazines, Arthur moved to Chicago in an
> attempt to raise the capital to start a national magazine with the objective to
> "educate the public unawares." He contacted George Pullman, the railroad car manufacturer
> and changed directions, becoming an inventor. Most of his occupational pursuits
> from this time on, were devoted to financing his own railroad inventions. However,
> this proved far less successful than his earlier magazine business.
> 
> Arthur was intensely interested in religion. As a young man he
> often was a Sunday-school teacher and an active church member. He attended many
> different Protestant denominations and eventually became dissatisfied with all
> of them. He became an ardent Bible student and voracious reader. His search
> led him to investigate other religious movements in nineteenth century America.
> Eventually, after following up on nearly every cult and -ism he could find, he
> came upon the Bahá'i Faith.
> 
> In 1897, Arthur met Dr. Sarah F. K. Burgess, who had recently accepted
> the Faith. Because he planned to move to New York City, Arthur received Ibrahim
> Kheiralla's 'Truth Seeker' lessons on the Bahá'i Faith in condensed format. He
> declared on October 27th.Once Arthur was settled in Manhattan, he invited Kheiralla
> and family to visit and give meetings. Thus the first Bahá'i meetings (not called
> firesides at this stage) were held in the Big Apple. Regular meetings were held
> in his home and in a few short years, the Yew York City Bahá'i community came
> a reality
> 
> The Assembly of New York City was, according to Arthur's personal
> records, first elected in 1898. The incorporation seal is dated 1898. Records
> (official minutes,) show that a "Board of Counsel" was elected on December 7,
> 1900 at the old home of Mr. Arthur P. Dodge, room 601, Carnegie Building. He was
> elected president of the Assembly and apparently held the position for several
> years.Ibrahim Kheiralla' refused to hold an allegiance to 'Abdú'l-Bahá and around
> 1900, caused a splintering of the Bahá'i Faith after the Master refused to sanction
> some of his beliefs, or to give him authority over the Bahá'i community in the
> West. Most of the American Bahá'i community remained loyal to 'Abd'l-Bahá though
> the leadership of several prominent Bahá'is, notably Thornton Chase. Arthur eventually
> was able to lead the New York Bahá'is into maintaining an allegiance with 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
> 
> Kheiralla lost contact with the Bahá'ís, as well as Bahá'u'lláh's
> Covenant, dying in 1929 along with most of his movement.
> 
> In 1900, Arthur produced The American, a magazine of a nonpartisan
> political movement called the "Universal Brotherhood Party," not a Bahá'í publication
> but clearly reflecting the Bahá'i viewpoint: unity working for God's Peace on
> Earth. In 1903-1904, Arthur Dodge published articles on the Bahá'i Faith, writing
> that the Bahá'is held "to the Positive Reality of actual Christianity, striving
> to live the life in the knowledge that love and service toward God were not possible
> without love and service to one's fellow men." This was part of a social reconstruction
> stemming largely from 'Abdu'l-Bahá's annunciation of universal principles that
> were being taken up by the Bahá'ís during this period.
> 
> During 1911-1912, Arthur Dodge and his wife was host to 'Abdu'l-Bahá
> on several occasions on the Master's historic visit to the United States. On
> April 16, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave a talk on the significance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
> in his home at 261 West 139th Street. 'Abdu'l-Bahá designated Yew York City as
> the 'City of the Covenant.' during a Bahá'i meeting on June 19, 1912. He spoke
> of Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-'Ahdi and the Tablet of the Branch, the later having
> been originally revealed in Adrianople for Mirza Ali Riza, and declared His own
> station to be the 'Center of the Covenant.'
> 
> Arthur was also a delegate to the national convention on at least
> three occasions between the years 1909-1917.
> 
> Arthur Dodge was later named as one of the nineteen western Disciples
> of 'Abdu'l-Bahá by Shoghi Effendi. This same group was also entitled Heralds of
> the Covenant. Additional accounts of his life and the date of his passing are
> presently being researched.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views10207 views since posted 2004-10-07; last edit 2016-05-03 20:31 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../francis_dodge_biography;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/1554
> Citation: ris/1554
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> — *Dodge, Arther Pillsbury (Used by permission of the curator)*