# Early Baha'is of Enterprise, Kansas, 1897

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Duane L. Herrmann, Early Baha'is of Enterprise, Kansas, 1897, Topeka: Buffalo Press, 1997, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Early Bahá´ís of Enterprise, Kansas: 1897
> 
> Duane L. Herrmann
> 
> © 1997
> ISBN 1-879448-11-4
> 
> Note: Originally published to commemorate the centennial of the Bahá’í
> community of Enterprise, Kansas, the second in the western hemisphere.
> 
> Contents
> 
> Introduction
> John J. Abramson
> Barbara Senn Hilty Ehrsam
> E. Ehrsam
> Julia Ehrsam
> Louise Forrester
> Elizabeth Frey
> Ed A. Hafner
> C.B. & Addie Harding
> Rose Hilty
> C.B. Hoffman
> John H. Johnk
> Josephine Hilty Kimmel
> Maud Kirkpatrick
> Carrie Lamb
> Mary M.F. Miller
> Elsbeth Frey Renwanz
> Elizabeth Rychner
> Iona L. Senn
> Marie Senn
> Michael & Josephine Senn
> Charles V. & Minnie Topping
> Sources of information
> Notes
> Introduction
> 
> The process of writing history is much like standing at the top of a deep well and trying to
> describe the activity at the bottom. There is no light and the water is murky. The only tool
> available to retrieve a fact is a hook on the end of a string. With luck the hook will catch on a
> fragment of information from that earlier time, but will the assembled fragments make much sense?
> This little booklet is the result of assembling such fragments and trying to create a coherent
> picture. Undoubtedly there are sources of information unknown to the present writer. It is
> impossible to provide complete biographies of all the individuals involved in Bahá’í activities in
> Enterprise a century ago. The aim here is to briefly summarize the information found to date.
> In some cases the contact these individuals had with the Bahá’í Faith may be a surprise to present
> members of their families, for that we apologize. In many cases the contact was minimal and
> forgotten about. In other cases, the contact may be well-known.
> One hundred years ago when the Bahá’í Faith reached Kansas, it looked different than it does
> today. A century ago it was still in the first period of its development. The Bahá’í Faith traces its
> beginnings to the night of 23 May 1844 in Persia (now Iran) when a merchant in the city of Shiraz
> announced that He was the one through whom a greater Messenger of God would appear. The
> movement that arose was suppressed by the military and religious authorities of the country.
> In 1852, a Persian nobleman, and follower of the Báb, was imprisoned for the new beliefs and
> consigned to an underground pit, in stocks with a 100-pound chain around His neck. During this
> experience, after which He was known as Bahá’u’lláh, He became aware of God’s mission for his
> Life.
> Bahá’u’lláh taught that the Creator of the universe is a non-physical, spiritual being without
> physical limitations, an unknowable essence. Humans are created spiritual beings, in the image of
> God as we can recognize and pay homage to our Creator. We have physical bodies to live in a
> physical world which in many ways reflects the spiritual world and here we learn and practice our
> spiritual attributes. How we exercise choice is an indication of the level of spiritual development
> which has been attained by individuals and the human spices as a whole.
> Bahá’u’lláh explained that the Creator, to help humans learn about our spiritual nature, sent
> Messengers to teach the human race. These unique beings, who are perfect mirrors of the Divinity,
> include, among others: Adam, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad and now,
> the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.
> Bahá’u’lláh affirms that each adult is now responsible for seeking truth and not blindly following
> the opinion of others, priests or other intermediaries are no longer necessary, and each person is
> responsible of the result of his or her own actions. All the Messengers of God have taught the need
> for the same basic qualities: charity, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, etc. Outward expression of
> these has changed from age to age, but the inner meaning has not.
> Bahá’ís are taught to pray and study the Word of God daily, fast once each year, observe
> monogamy and chastity, raise children in the teachings of God and social amenities, and strive to be
> ever more spiritual beings. The human soul endures forever in its journey toward the Creator and
> our daily actions reflect progress on that course.
> Human society now is in a period of transition. The Bahá’í teachings propose that a global
> civilization is the next stage in human development, some of the outlines can already be seen:
> women are more and more taking their rightful place alongside men, nations can no longer afford to
> be aggressive, one language has become more and more useful in international communication, and
> multinational treaties, covering a wide variety of concerns, are increasing the ability of nations to
> function together harmoniously. Most nations share one system of weights and measures which
> facilitates commerce and economic prosperity, and democracy has been adopted by more and more
> nations during the past few decades. Bahá’ís believe these trends will increase as their benefits are
> more widely felt.1.
> The news of this message first personally reached Kansas through the actions of Barbara Senn
> Hilty Ehrsam. Barbara’s oldest daughter, Josephine, had gone to Chicago for further musical
> training (she eventually sang on the stage in Europe). There, Josephine heard of Ibrahim Kheiralla,
> a religious teacher and “healer.”
> The date of Barbara’s invitation to Kheiralla, or when it was accepted remains unknown. It is
> known that he did not come alone. Two news articles make passing mention of “his family,” and
> another specifically mentions his son, George. Kheiralla later stated that he was accompanied to
> Enterprise by his wife and teenage son.2. The memory of one of his Enterprise students
> independently confirms it.3.
> Kheiralla (1842-1929), of Syrian Christian background, had learned of the Bahá’í Faith in 1883,
> eventually decided to study it and converted in 1889 in Egypt. He later came to the U.S. to make
> his fortune. After several failed attempts, he learned he could tap the market for “healers” (some
> were already doing a thriving business even in Kansas). He bought a mail-order medical degree and
> soon combined “healing” with teaching his understanding of the Bahá’í Faith. It was reported that
> in the first few years, Kheiralla had attracted over a thousand followers.4.
> In Chicago, Kheiralla developed a system of classes for teaching the Bahá’í Faith. “This was a
> series of graduated lectures, the earliest dealing with such general issues as the immortality of the
> soul, the nature of the mind, and the need to believe in God. Later lectures dealt increasingly with
> biblical prophecy concerning the second advent and the existence of a ‘Greatest Name’ of God by
> which the believers might enter into a special relationship with the Divine.”5.
> A summary of the beliefs of the American Bahá’í community before the turn of the century
> concluded that, “Ibrahim Kheiralla had taught the North Americans that Bahá’u’lláh was the return
> of the Father and that in His religion all biblical prophecies had been fulfilled.6.
> This was the time of the beginnings of the American Bahá’í community. In contrast, recent
> statistics from the Bahá’í World Center, in Haifa, Israel, indicate that the Bahá’í Faith has a world
> population numbering “more than five million,” whose members live in 235 countries and
> dependent territories Bahá’ís reside in 121,058 localities around the planet and represent 2,112
> races, tribes and ethnic groups. Local administrative councils have been established in 17,148
> localities under the guidance of 175 national or regional administrative councils.7.
> At the time of Kheiralla’s visit to Enterprise in 1897, only one piece of Bahá’í literature existed
> in English, and that written by Kheiralla. His pamphlet, entitled: “The Identity and Personality of
> God,” is evidence of Kheiralla’s lack of knowledge of the Bahá’í Revelation. He lists seventeen
> “general principles,” and eight “great points.” Among these only one, “the oneness or singleness of
> God,” is recognizable as one of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Only the last of Kheiralla’s “great
> points” is sufficiently clear to indicate a correlation with the Bahá’í Faith and that is a reference to
> the “Greatest Name,” the name of Bahá’u’lláh. Of these twenty-six items listed in the pamphlet, the
> text discusses only one. Twenty-eight pages of the pamphlet are devoted to Kheiralla’s ideas about
> the “proof” of the “individuality of God.”8.
> It appears that Kheiralla brought this pamphlet with him to Enterprise. Some statements from it
> are reproduced in the larger newspaper articles, such as, “the teacher can not accept any
> remuneration…”9.
> Within a few days of his arrival in Enterprise, in the middle of July 1897, Kheiralla began his
> lectures. Because of the attendance of prominent individuals, including Michael Senn, Barbar’s
> Ehrsam’s brother (and former State Senator) and particularly C.B. Hoffman, her nephew (then at the
> center of political controversy), the classes attracted the attention of the press. Kansas newspapers
> from Hays and Hutchinson and Salina to Kansas City and Atchison made reference to the classes
> that July and August. Two major articles and one smaller one were used, copied more or less word
> for word, or as the basis of new articles or references. Newspapers outside Enterprise often added
> their own editorial comments. Some statements in the news articles can be confirmed by notes
> taken by his students in Chicago.
> Once a person had completed the classes, Kheiralla invited their participation in a private
> ceremony which he had devised. During this ceremony he informed the student of the name of the
> Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh. This was referred to as, “receiving the Greatest Name.”
> The ceremony signalized complete membership into the American Bahá’í community at that time.
> As the number of members increased, Kheiralla found himself unable to continue the degree of
> control that he wanted. This became completely impossible hen believers began to arise in several
> different cities simultaneously. Distance, especially in the case of Enterprise, became an inhibiting
> factor. The believers in Kansas wanted the initiation and felt deprived without it. Gradually
> Kheiralla was impelled to allow other believers to give out the Greatest Name. Barbara Ehrsam
> relates this as the manner in which she received it.10
> Kheiralla’s secrecy and special initiation was kindred to the secret societies that were
> predominate at the time. In 1896, with a population of only 36,000, according to the city directory,
> there were seventy-five “Secret and Benevolent Societies” in Topeka, and nearly as many other
> clubs and organizations, not counting churches.”11.
> By 1897 the American Bahá’í community had not yet developed a sufficient infrastructure of
> effective administration, nor a systemic method of communication among its members. Many of
> the “little band of believers,” as Barbara Ehrsam described them, gradually drifted to other interests.
> Those who maintained their interest saw these problems resolved and provided a connection to
> those originals events. Through then, the Kansas Bahá’í community has been continuous for a
> century.12
> Different amounts of information have been found regarding the various individuals involved, so
> the following profiles are uneven in coverage and substance.
> 
> John J. Abramson
> John Abramson was born in Syria in 1871 of parents who were born in Russian and Switzerland.
> This does not preclude a German background, indicated in personal correspondence, by him being
> addressed as, “Hans,” the diminutive of “Johan,” the German form of “John.” There is also local
> reference to him having a Jewish background.
> Described in the 1900 census as a “nephew” of Jacob Ehrsam, he had lived with the family since
> his arrival in the U.S. in 1888 at the age of 15. By that time he was fluent in German, Arabic, and
> English, adding a dynamic element to family life.
> He is listed as attending Kheiralla’s class, but he did not satisfy himself with what he heard there.
> To learn more he wrote to his brother who lived in Jerusalem. Letters from his brother were shared
> with Bahá’ís and some were saved by Thornton Chase, a Bahá’í at the time in Chicago. The
> information his brother found is consistent with Bahá’í histories available today.
> In one of those letters he mentioned planning to go to the Holy Land at the end of 1898, but no
> evidence has been found that such a trip occurred.
> Though Barbara Ehrsam indirectly confirms his role as, “one of the believers here,” no other
> evidence has been found of involvement with the Bahá’í community other than attendance in the
> class and the surviving letters.
> In 1903 he moved to California where he lived the rest of his life and died there in 1932. He
> married Josephine Hilty and they had one child, a son, Hilty Abramson.
> 
> Arnold J. Ehrsam
> 
> Arnold Ehrsam was the third son of Jacob and Barabara Ehrsam and given, for a middle name,
> the name of the Swiss hero, Winklereid. After attending the Enterprise schools, he went to Baker
> University and devoted himself to the new sport of “football.” He became the first football coach at
> K-State.
> After his college career, he entered the family business and held various responsibilities until his
> death in 1941. In 1901 he married Viola Hare and had three children. She far outlived him by
> reaching her 100th birthday in 1978, a month and a half before she died.
> The only evidence of Arnold’s connection with the Bahá’í community was his attendance at
> Kheiralla’s class.
> 
> Barbara Senn Hilty Ehrsam
> 
> Barbara Ehrsam was born in Switzerland on 14 May 1843. Her father brought the family to
> America in 1854 and she grew up near Grasshopper Falls, KS. In May 1860 she married a
> neighbor, Joseph Hilty. Together they had two children, Leonhard and Josephine. Her husband
> died in 1868 after returning home from service in the Civil War. They owned two sections of land
> which the young widow could not manage, in addition to the two babies, so her brother, Michael,
> came to help her.
> The next year she rented out her farm and both of them, with their families, joined their sister and
> her husband in building a new town on the central Kansas prairie. This became the city of
> Enterprise. Barbara and Michael built and managed the first store at the town site.
> In 1870 Barbara married Jacob Ehrsam, the mechanic who had helped her brother-in-law build
> the mill on the Smokey Hill River. Together they had six children, giving Barbara a total of eight.
> Twenty years later she was searching for more meaning in life and turned to various philosophies.
> While her daughter, Josephine, was in Chicago, she heard of another spiritual teacher, Ibraham
> Kheiralla, and he was invited to Enterprise. In the summer of 1897 he arrived and held his classes.
> He did not complete them and thought he might return, but did not. For several years his students
> sought the Greatest Name to complete their experience, and some found it, Barbara from her
> daughter, Josephine.
> Two letters of 1899 survive from Barbara to Kheiralla’s secretary asking for more information.
> None was available so Barbara went on to other interests.
> In 1911 she did encounter more information on the Bahá’í Faith in an article in Everybody’s, a
> general interest magazine. She wrote of this in two letters to her daughter-in-law, Rose Hilty. In
> one letter she states she never agreed with Kheiralla’s insistence on secrecy, one of his ideas that
> clouded his efforts.
> The next year, in letters to Rose, she mentions the visit to her of another Enterprise believers,
> Elkizabeth Frey, who had been to Chicago to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then Head of the Bahá’í Faith, who
> was traveling in America at the time. Barbara related the tragedies in the life of one believers, and
> how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that it is through such difficulties that people’s souls are tested and
> strengthened.
> One more indication of interest was found in the financial ledger books of the Bahai Temple
> Unity, the executive body formed to build the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, IL, near
> Chicago. In 1917 she sent a contribution to help with construction.
> 
> E. Ehrsam
> 
> No first name for this person is given in Kheiralla’s list. According to both the 1895 and 1900
> census there were four individuals in Enterprise who could be referred to as, “E. Ehrsam.” Three
> were named “Elizabeth,” and a fourth was “Elsbeth.” Two were born in Switzerland in the early
> 1830s, and one of these was a sister-in-law of Barbara Ehrsam. The third was in her early 20s in
> 1897, and the fourth was only nine, the daughter of Barbara and Jacob Ehrsam. With no other
> information, speculation as to actual identity if futile.
> 
> Julia Ehrsam
> 
> Born in Enterprise on 11 January 1879, she was the fourth child of Jacob and Barbara Ehrsam. In
> 1897 she graduated from Enterprise High School at the age of 18. Kheiralla’s list indicated that she
> attended the class and received the Greatest Name, probably from her mother or step-sister. No
> other evidence of her involvement with the Bahá’í community has been found.
> In 1906 she taught Kindergarten in Enterprise after traveling to St. Louis for instruction. She
> later married Edward H. Kuster. For thirty-five years he was the secretary, and a director, of the
> Ehrsam company. He also became vice President, and a director, of the Dickinson County Bank,
> Mayor of Enterprise from 1941-1947, and member of the city council for twenty-five years. He
> died in 1955.
> After her husband’s death, Julia moved to Wamego to be near her only child and joined St Luke’s
> Episcopal Church. The last year of her life she lived in a nursing home in Topeka and died there in
> 1967. Both she and her husband are buried in Enterprise.
> 
> William J. Ehrsam
> 
> William was the first child of Jacob and Barbara Ehrsam, and the first child born in the town of
> Enterprise. At age 14 he attended the Kansas State Agricultural College for three years, then Rose
> Polytechnic Institute in Terra Haute, IN.
> After graduation he returned to Enterprise and joined the family business. In 1924 he became
> president of the company after the death of his father. he remained in that position until ill-health
> forced him to retire in 1942. Under his direction the company grew from a small machine shop into
> an internationally famous manufacturer of milling equipment. As testimony to his accomplishment,
> he was invited to England, in 1936, as a consulting engineer.
> In 1903 he married Vergiline Mulvane, daughter of the President of Washburn College of
> Topeka. They had five children. For his family he bought the house that is now operated as
> “Ehrsam House Bed and Breakfast.”
> His name on Kheiralla’s list is the only indication of his involvement with the Bahá’í community.
> 
> Louise Forrester
> 
> “L. Forrester,” is the only one listed in the 1895 Kansas census that could be Louisa Forrester.
> She is listed as being a “housekeeper,” in the home of Robert Forrester, a stonemason, with five
> other Forresters, whose ages indicate they are the children of the household. Five years later, in the
> 1900 federal census, Louisa is not living there, but Robert’s wife, Moriah was. Louisa and Moriah
> are not the same person as they have different ages and birth places. Five of Moriah’s eight
> children were living, with accounts for the five children of the household. It is quite possible that
> Louisa and Robert were brother and sister, and she came to help him during the time his wife was
> away from home.
> After Kheiralla’s class, Louisa either married, moved out of Kansas, or died some place other
> than Enterprise. Her name does not appear in further connection with Enterprise or the Bahá’í
> community.
> Kheiralla’s list does not indicate that Louisa received the Greatest Name. it is likely that she left
> Enterprise before the others there received it. No other indication has been to suggest that the
> maintained contact with the Bahá’í community.
> 
> Elizabeth Frey
> 
> Born Elizabeth Killius in Havana, IL, in 1858, she had at least four siblings, two of whom
> outlived her. When she was about seventeen she traveled to Kansas where she lived near Detroit
> with a sister and taught school, in 1882 she married James Frey.
> When, in the summer of 1897, James was appointed Postmaster of Enterprise, she then became
> the Assistant Postmaster. Their oldest son was hired as a clerk. Also, that summer, Elizabeth
> attended Kheiralla’s classes and later received the Greatest Name, She did not stop with that, but
> other events in her life took her attention.
> As 1901 began, she traveled to Highland, IL., to get the three orphaned children of her brother.
> Both he and his wife had suddenly died. The children’s ages ranged from eight months to nine
> years, her own youngest was then fourteen. She spent her life giving to others in need.
> A highlight of her life occurred when she was fifty-four; a trip to Chicago. This was not an
> ordinary vacation trip. She and her daughter, Elsbeth Renwanz, went there to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
> who was traveling in this country. While in Chicago, He laid the cornerstone for the Bahá’í House
> of Worship to be build in Wilmette, IL. Elsbeth is in a group photograph of the event, and her name
> is on the list of those who attended. Elizabeth Frey had stayed in her hotel on the actual day of
> dedication since the weather was cold, wet and windy.
> As soon as she returned home, she went to see Barbara Ehrsam and told her of the trip. She
> shared with her the trials suffered by Corinne True who was instrumental in encouraging the project
> of building the House of Worship. Barbara’s account of these events can be accurately compared
> with True’s biography.
> In 1928 she became ill with what her obituary called, “a deadly malady,” and died in April of the
> next year. The full obituary extolled her religious nature and the active role of prayer in her life.
> 
> Ed A. Hafner
> 
> Ed Hafner may not have lived in Enterprise for a very long time. Neither he, nor any family with
> his name, appears on either the 1895 or 1900 census. His name is on the class list, but not as having
> received the Greatest Name,
> One other interesting place where his name does appear is in a brief item in the Enterprise
> Journal. On Thursday, 12 August 1897, the Journal stated: “Ed Hafner, Emmitt Hoffman and
> George Kheiralla are with a camping party on Lyons creek, near Woodbine, and will fight chiggers
> and mosquitoes for a week.” George Kheiralla was the teenage son of Ibrahim Kheiralla who
> taught the class.
> Nothing more was found about him.
> C.B & Addie Harding
> 
> Chauneg Harding was the Station Agent for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in
> Enterprise. He and his wife, Addie, attended the Bahá’í class and, afterwards, both received the
> Greatest Name.
> He was from New York (both he and his parents were born in that state) and she was born in
> Iowa (also of American-born parents). His thirty-fourth birthday occurred the August that Kheiralla
> was in Enterprise. She was a few months older. Their two children were aged eleven and six.
> By 1900 they owned their home, free of any mortgage, and had a servant living with them. Their
> home was also large enough for a boarder, and in the summer of 1900, a man named, John E.
> Pontius, boarded with them.
> Aside from their names on the class list, no other evidence has been found of any further
> involvement by either of them with the Bahá’í community.
> 
> Rose Hilty
> 
> Rosa Abbuehl of Grasshopper Falls married Leonhard Hilty, son of Barbara Hilty Ehrsam, in
> 1860. Later, during their lives, they Americanized their names to “Leonard,” and “Rose.” Together
> they had three daughters, the middle one, dying in infancy. The youngest, Lovelia, was born blind
> and, when Kheiralla arrived in Enterprise, one of the newspapers mentioned him “healing” her
> blindness to the extent that she could distinguish light from dark and see some colors. She later
> gave music professionally.
> Both Leonard and Rose attended Kheiralla’s class, but only Rose received the Greatest Name.
> She is one of the few who maintained her connection with the Bahá’í community her entire life. to
> gain more information, she planned a trip to Chicago in 1899, but the need for surgery cancelled it.
> In 1905, Rose and Mrs. Mary Miller, also of Enterprise signed a petition to ‘Abdul- Bahá (such
> petitions were frequently circulated through the American Bahá’í community in the early years of
> the twentieth century). The reply was printed as a booklet with the names of all 422 other believers
> who signed. A copy is in the Topeka Bahá’í Archives.
> The next year, the Hilty’s moved to Topeka so that Lovelia could attend high school there. This
> move resulted in Rose becoming the first Bahá’í to live in the capital city and the beginning of the
> Topeka Bahá’í community. While there, Rose and her mother-in-law would write weekly letters to
> each other. in December 1911, she informed Rose of the article in that month’s edition of
> Everybody’s and the next year she wrote about Elizabeth Frey’s trip to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in
> Chicago.
> By 1916 the family had moved back to Enterprise, but Lovelia remained in Topeka. Rose
> brought with her news of contact with the larger Bahá’í community outside Kansas. There was now
> a small group of believers in Topeka, and one of them, Bertha Hyde, had other family members in
> Urbana, IL, who were also Bahá’ís.
> In 1920, a Bahá’í sent by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to travel through America, came to Topeka. Rose came
> back to Topeka to help in preparation for his visit, and stayed. Sites for lectures were arranged,
> news releases prepared, etc., a flurry of activity for the small group of Bahá’ís in Topeka. The next
> year the Topeka city directory indicates the Hiltys had moved back to town. A few years later,
> Leonard died.
> Rose was visited in 1934 by two new members of the Topeka Bahá’í community wanting to learn
> about the early days of the Kansas Bahá’í community. Their notes of Rose’s reminiscences became
> the only local history the Bahá’ís of Kansas would have for many decades to come. Later that year,
> Rose died and was buried next to her husband in the Topeka Cemetery.
> Over the year, as Bahá’í books had become available, Rose had bought each one. She also
> subscribed to the Bahá’í magazine. After her mother died, Lovelia gave all these to the Bahá’ís of
> Topeka. They formed the basis of the Topeka Bahá’í Library, a legacy of her mother’s faith.
> 
> C.B. Hoffman
> 
> Christian Balzac Hoffman was born in Switzerland in 1851, the son of Christian and Elsbeth
> Senn Hoffman. When he completed his education, he hoined his father’s milling business and
> gradually his interests branched out from there, eventually to politics.
> The Hoffman mill sent samples of its flour to be exhibited at the Columbian Exposition in 1893
> and the Hoffman family attended. C.B.’s wife, Catherine, wrote of her impressions of one event she
> attended there: the Parliament of Religions. She called it, “the greatest demonstration of the
> spiritual evolution of man that has ever occurred.”
> She closed her account saying, “This Parliament broadened human thought, created a deeper
> feeling of charity, and good will and served to unite the races into stronger bonds of brotherhood,
> that brotherhood taught by Jesus wherein creed and baptism are secondary and the spirit of love is
> paramount.” It was at this event that the name Bahá’u’lláh, and His teachings, were first mentioned
> in America.
> In the summer of 1897 Hoffman was a controversial figure on the Kansas political scene. For
> several years he had championed the Populist cause and had been appointed to the Board of Regents
> of the Kansas State Agricultural College. His proposals attracted considerable excitement. When
> he attended Khairalla’s classes in Enterprise, newspapers across Kansas (from Hays, Hutchinson
> and Salina to Atchison and Kansas City) took note.
> Hoffman wanted to know more than Kheiralla was able to teach (because he himself knew little
> about the Bahá’í Revelation( and, in his effort to maintain congrol, Kheiralla eventually expelled
> Hoffman from the class. This also generated publicity.
> Though his contact with the Bahá’í community ended, some of Hoffman’s thoughts, later in life,
> touched on a few points in agreement with Bahá’í teachings. These are expressed in an unpublished
> essay he titled, “Emotional Relition,” his over-riding belief though, was in socialism.
> 
> John H. Johnk
> John Johnk was the only one of his family on Kheiralla’s list. He and his wife, Margaret, had six
> children by that summer of 1897, and they may have been the reason she did not come. Two more
> were born later to complete the family. John was a native of Germany, the fourth generation of his
> family to be a miller. He had moved his family several times before the turn of the century,
> movement that is reflected in the birthplaces of his children: Nebraska, Kansas, two in Colorado and
> three in Enterprise. All the children survived their infancy, a remarkable fact for those times.
> Johnk was just a few days short of his forty-second birthday when he attended the class. How
> deep his interest went is unknown, he did not receive the Greatest Name.
> About 1907 the family moved to Neosho Falls where he managed a mill of his own. He died
> there in 1912.
> 
> Josephine Hilty Kimmer
> 
> “Josie” was the first child of Barbara Ehrsam, born near Grasshopper Falls, KS. Her father died
> after returning home from service in the Civil War. She drew up in Enterprise, then traveled to
> Chicago for more education.
> One of the first newspaper articles about the Bahá’í class in Enterprise reported, “Miss Josie
> HIlty, who knew the ‘Doctor’ in Chicago and through whose influence he was induced to visit
> Enterprise, is said to have embraced the doctrine he teaches.”
> She is on the membership, with the name of “Kimmel,” as a resident of St. Louis, being the first
> Bahá’í there. For a time, a civil war veteran, J.H. Kimmel, lived in Enterprise and may be the
> connection to her first married name.
> According to one of her mother’s letter, Josephine gave the Greatest Name to believers in
> Enterprise. She wrote, “My daughter, Mrs. Kimmel of St Louis, formerly Miss Hilty, has given me
> the Greatest Name (with your permission) while here on a visit.” No other evidence of her
> membership has been found.
> She married John J. Abramson and, with their son, Hilty, lived most of her life in California. She
> died in Los Angeles a couple of years after her husband.
> 
> Maud Kirkpatrick
> 
> Maud Winifred Parker was born in 1861 in Illinois of parents who had been born in New York
> and Pennsylvania. That Kansas was the birthplace of her children demonstrates her family’s part in
> the westward migration of the American population. Her family moved to Detroit, KS in 1869 and
> to Enterprise a year later.
> On her seventeenth birthday she married Rufus Kirkpatrick, an Irishman, who, with his two
> brothers owned and operated the Enterprise livery barn, located beside the Ehrsam machine shop on
> First Street. They had come to Enterprise in 1872 and built the business in on the empty prairie. It
> was one of the earliest businesses in town. By the time they sold the business in 1899, it included
> eighteen driving and saddle horses, one dray team, eight buggies, four carriages, two hacks, a bus
> and a hearse. The loft above the stables was large enough to hold twelve tons of hay. It was a
> thriving business.
> Before the automobile, the liveryman was one of the most essential people in town. He would
> meet each train to taxi passengers to their final destination, he delivered mail and supplies from the
> train as well as made local deliveries, took the doctor on sick calls and his was the only hearse in
> town. The family prospered.
> Maud and Rufus had two children, Theron and Maud. Their daughter died before she reached
> three years of age. Theron graduated from Enterprise High School in 1898 and became a telegraph
> operator, a promising career in those days.
> Maud attended Kheiralla’s classes, but the record does not indicate that she received the Greatest
> Name, No other evidence has been found to suggest she continued to regard herself as a believer,
> but she may have. Her obituary did not mention, as was often the case, any church affiliation. It
> stated that she did not hesitate to help others, “in time of sickness or need, and she was an active
> member of the aid societies in town.” In this, she was practicing the life of a Bahá’í.
> The family moved to Topeka in 1907, but after a few years returned to Enterprise. Maud died in
> 1911.
> 
> Carrie Lamb
> 
> Carrie Lamb was the wife of “H.W. Lamb” and lived in Solomon, KS. Eventually she and her
> family moved to Los Angeles where she died in 1955. But, in the summer of 1897 she was in
> Enterprise.
> That year did not begin well for the family. In January her mother, in Enterprise, after being
> unwell for two years, died unexpectedly. Her death was so sudden that she was buried in the yard
> beside the house until the family could decide where to bury her permanently. It is likely that
> Carried returned to the family home to help care for her younger brothers and sisters, and she was
> there when Kheiralla came to give his class.
> Later, in 1907, her father moved to Wichita and when he died, was buried in Wilsey, KS, where
> they had eventually decided to bury his wife. The family had lived in Wilsey in 1880 before
> coming to Enterprise and the youngest child was born there.
> Carrie’s name is not checked on the Bahá’í list as having received the Greatest Name, and she is
> not found living in Kansas in the 1900 census, so she may not have stayed in Enterprise long
> enough for that to happen. No other connection has been found.
> 
> Mary M.F. Miller
> 
> She was born in 1844, the daughter of a German minister. In 1860 she married another, John P.
> Miller. The next year he was assigned the mission district of Dickinson Co., and was stationed in
> Lyona until 1870. Soon after his arrival, Christian Hoffman invited him to preach in his cabin at
> Loudens Falls, and the Methodist Church of Enterprise made its beginnings. During his career,
> Rev. Miller was assigned to various churches in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. He was
> retired early due to failing health and turned to homeopathy which he then became qualified to
> practice.
> In 1898 the Millers were living in Kansas City, KS. That year, Mary Miller is listed as a member
> of the Bahá’í community. She was the first Bahá’í in Kansas City. Shortly after thet urn of the
> century, they moved back to Enterprise.
> Mary Miller was one fo the two believes in Enterprise who, in 1905, signed a petition to ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá. This was not an uncommon practice of the times. His reply was printed as a booklet with the
> names of all 422 believers who signed it.
> Except for contributions to help build the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, little other
> evidence of her membership has been found. She died in 1911 and notice appeared in the Bahá’í
> magazine, “Word comes to us announcing the death of Mrs. Mary M.F. Miller, Enterprise, Kansas,
> after a stroke of paralysis.” She was a believer to the end.
> 
> Elsbeth Frey Renwanz
> 
> The childhood of Elsbeth Frey was changed by two events which occurred the summer of 1897,
> when she was ten years old. Her father was appointed Post Master for the city of Enterprise and her
> mother attended the Bahá’í class. Her mother received the Greatest Name and remained a firm
> believer the rest of her life.
> In 1911 Elsbeth married Herman Rennwanz (the name was later shortened). A native German,
> he had come to Enterprise from Seattle six years earlier and was a draftsman for the Ehrsam
> Manufacturing Company.
> The next year she and her mother made a trip that caused a lasting impression on their lives,
> meeting ‘Abdul-Bahá. They were the only Bahá’ís from Kansas to do so. Elsbeth is pictured in a
> photograph of a group of believers with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In her later years she related, “’Abdu’l-
> Bahá, turning to mother, patted her on the shoulder, then looking at me, tears rolling down my
> cheeks, bade me not to cry, not to cry, to be happy, to be happy. Then, as I recall, He said, ‘both
> shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven,’ – a delightful memory indeed.
> “Suddenly something more had penetrated me through and through. I was overwhelmed with
> joy. It was an inexplainable, forcible reality that cannot be denied, radiating from that fountain of
> Love, the Mystery of God, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
> A year after the trip, Elsbeth and her husband moved to Grand Rapids, MI. There, their son was
> born and she was actively involved in the Bahá’í community. And there, disaster struck the little
> family in 1919.
> In March that year, Herman contracted influenza and died five days later. He was not yet forty
> years old when he became one of the 29 million to die in that global epidemic. Later that year,
> Elsbeth received a brief letter from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in answer to questions she had asked earlier.
> She returned to Enterprise and began teaching school. Eventually she moved to St. Joseph, MO,
> teaching there until she retired, then moved to Denver. She died there in 1970, but not before
> returning to Kansas one last time. This was for a Bahá’í conference in Wichita in 1955. A
> photograph of the conference was published and she is identified in it.
> After she died, her body was brought back to Enterprise and she was buried beside her husband
> and parents in Mt. Hoep Cemetery. A nine-pointed star adorns her gravestone.
> 
> Elizabeth Rychner
> 
> According to the 1985 Kansas census, Elizabeth was thirty-three years old, a teachier and the
> mother of a year old daughter. It is doubtful that she actually taught that year given the social
> strictures that women did not teach school after they were married. Her husband, “J.S.” was a
> “clerk,” and both had been born in Iowa.
> Only Elisabeth’s name is on the Bahá’í list, and it is marked as her having received the Greatest
> Name. A letter from her survives which she wrote in October 1898, before receiving the Greatest
> Name, asking how she could receive it. She mentions the possibility of her going to Chicago on an
> excursion train, but wanted to be sure there would be some Bahá’í meetings she could attend while
> she was there. It is not known whether this trip was accomplished or not.
> It is likely that she did not write the letter from Enterprise. After her signature appears an
> illegible word, followed by a capital O. It is known that she lived somewhere in Ohio after the class
> in Enterprise, so she may have been there by late 1898. She did keep in touch with others who had
> attended Kheiralla’s class, but no other information has been found about her connection with the
> Bahá’í community.
> 
> Iona L. Senn
> 
> She was a daughter of Michael and Josephine Senn, and a niece of Barbara Ehrsam in whose
> home Kheiralla held his classes. During her childhood the family moved to Riley Co. where her
> father founded the settlement of Lasita. She later married Clarence W Moulton and moved to
> California where she lived most of her adult life. After her husband’s death she returned to Kansas
> in 1965 and settled in Abilene to be near her family. She died two years later.
> Her name on the membership list is the only evidence of her connection with the Bahá’í
> community that has so far been found.
> 
> Marie Senn
> 
> Marie Senn was also a daughter of Michael and Josephine Senn and the first girl to be born in
> Enterprise, in 1871, shortly after the founding of the town. She taught schools in Pearl and
> Enterprise and attended Kansas State College. In 1894 she became the head of the department of
> domestic science at North Dakota State University and continued there until she married. During
> the summer of 1897, she was home in Enterprise and attended Kheiralla’s class.
> In 1903, she married Thomas H. Heath, a Canadian living in Seattle. They lived in Seattle eleven
> years and began heir family of three children. About ten years later they moved to Enterprise when
> he was hired by the Ehrsam company. He worked there the remainder of his career. During their
> life in Enterprise the family played a prominent role in activities of the city when Thomas served on
> the city council four years and was mayor for sixteen years. Marie died in 1962 just a few days
> short of their sixtieth wedding anniversary.
> The only evidence of her connection with the Bahá’í community is her attendance in Kheiralla’s
> class.
> 
> Micheal & Josephine Senn
> 
> Micheal Senn and Josephine Meyer were married near Grasshopper Falls, KS, in 1868 after he
> returned from service in the Civil War. It was not an untypical union of the times: he a Swiss native
> who had fought in the bloodiest war in this country and she from a naturalized family. He helped
> his sister, Barbara Hilty, after her husband died and together they moved their families to the
> settlement on the Smokey Hill River which became the city of Enterprise. Their sister, Elizabeth
> Hoffman, and her husband, Christian, lived there and encouraged them to come. With Barbara, he
> built and operated the first store in the town and, with the Post Office in the store, became the first
> Post Master of Enterprise. As the town grew, his interests branched out. He, like Hoffman, utilized
> the water power of the river to operate a mill, his a woolen textile mill. Eventually he went into
> politics.
> Later, he moved his family to Riley Co. and founded the settlement of Lasita, where he lived the
> last sixty years of his life. he earned a reputation as a “poet philosopher,” and gained such a
> reputation for honesty and integrity that he was elected to both the Kansas House of Representatives
> and, later, the state Senate.
> No matter where the family lived, his wife, Josephine, gained a reputation as one who could be
> called on in times of need, especially when doctors were few and women assisted each other in
> childbirth and caring for their infants.
> Both attended Kheiralla’s class in Michael’s sister’s home. Michael made news after asking
> questions that Kheiralla could not answer (Khairalla said they made no sense) which resulted in him
> being expelled from the class. Only Josephine’s name is marked on the membership list, but not
> marked as having received the Greatest Name,.= No other evidence of involvement for either of
> them has been found.
> 
> Charles V. & Minnie Topping
> 
> Both Charles and Minnie Topping attended Kheiralla’s class, but neighter received the Greatest
> Name. They were counted in Enterprise in both the 1895 and 1900 census, so they should have had
> as much opportunity as the other members of the class. He was a bookkeeper in the flour mill and
> eventually became the Secretary of the Southwestern Millers League. As cuch, he became an
> expert on freight rates and shipping regulations. Part of his responsibility for the millers association
> was to testify before congressional hearings. After one particularly intense and grueling hearing, he
> suffered a nervous breakdown and died four months later.
> When he died, in 1928, the family was living in Kansas City. He was buried in Baldwin, KS,
> where he and Minnie Ocott had been married. They had come to Enterprise in the early 1880s. he
> ahd been born in Wisconsin, his parents in New York, and his children in Kansas. This was typical
> of the westward migration of the American population. Minnie’s parents were born in Indiana and
> she, in Kansas, the same pattern, only at a later time in the family’s progress.
> By the 1900 census, they had been married sixteen years and owned their home on Bridge Street,
> free of any mortgage. Three children were born to them, one died an infant and is buried in
> Enterprise, but there is no marker for her grave.
> Charles Topping was described as, “a pleasant spoken, unassuming gentleman, his mind stored
> with an enormous found of information which he calmly presented in a manner carrying
> unquestioned weight.” He was sixty-four when he died. Her death, later, was not noted int eh
> Enterprise or Abilene papers.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 1. For more information on the Bahá’í Faith, see: William S. Hatcher & J. Douglas Martin, The
> Bahá’í Faith: The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1984).
> 2. Dr. Robert H. Stockman, The Bahá’í Faith in America: Origins, 1892-1900, vol.1 (Wilmette,
> IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985), p.108.
> 3. Reminiscences of Rose Hilty found in, “History of the Membership in the Topeka Bahá’í
> Community,” compiled by May Brown [n.d.], p.1, Topeka Bahá’í Archives.
> 4. About the life of I.G. Kheiralla see: Richard Hollinger, “Ibrahim George Kheiralla and the
> Bahá’í Faith in America,” From Iran East and West: Studies in Bábí and Bahá’í History, vol. 2
> (Los Angeles, Kalimat Press, 1984), pp.95-122.
> 5. Dr. Peter Smith, “The American Bahá’í Community, 1894-1917: A Preliminary Survey,”
> Studies in Bábí and Bahá’í History, vol.1 (Los Angeles, Kalimat Press, 1982), p.90.
> 6. Dr. Robert H. Stockman, The Bahá’í Faith in America: Early Expansion, 1900-1912, vol.2
> Oxford, George Ronald Publisher, 1995), pp.383-384.
> 7. World Center Publications, The Bahá’í World: 1995-1996 (Haifa, Bahá’í World Center, 1996),
> p.317. Statistics as of May 1995. National/regional assemblies as of April 1997.
> 8. I.G. Kheiralla, “Za-ti-et Al-lah, the Identity and the Personality of God,” [no data, 1896],
> National Bahá’í Archives, Wilmette, IL.
> 9. ibid., pp.3 & 5.
> 10. Duane L. Herrmann, “Letters from a Nineteenth Century Kansas Bahá’í,” World Order,
> Winter 1996-97, pp.27-35.
> 11. Radges 1896-1897 Directory of Topeka and Shawnee County, pp.99-104.
> 12. Duane L. Herrmann, “The Bahá’í Faith in Kansas: 1897-1947,” Community Histories: Studies
> in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, vol. 6 (Los Angelse, Kalimat Press, 1992), pp.67-110.
> Sources of information:
> 
> - Abilene Reflector and Chronicle, 1897-1934, Kansas State Historical Society.
> - Barbara Ehrsam – Rose Hilty correspondence, 1911-1912, courtesy of Mrs. Constance Downs.
> - Bruce Whitmore, The Dawning Place, (Wilmette, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984).
> - C.B. Hoffman Papers, Spencer Museum, University of Kansas.
> - Elsbeth Frey Memoirs, National Bahá’í Archives.
> - Elsbeth Frey Papers, Denver Bahá’í Archives.
> - Enterprise Journal, 1897-1934, Kansas State Historical Society.
> - Kansas State Census, 1895, Kansas State Historical Society.
> - Star of the West, 1911.
> - “Supplication Book of Students in Miscellaneous Cities: 1894-1899,” Bahá’í Enrollment List,
> United States Collection, 1894-1900, National Bahá’í Archives.
> - Thornton Chase Corresondence, National Bahá’í Archives.
> - Topeka Bahá’í Archives.
> - United States Federal Census, 1900, Kansas State Historical Society.
>
> — *Early Baha'is of Enterprise, Kansas, 1897 (Used by permission of the curator)*