Martha Root

One of the prominent traveling teachers of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century. Known by her numerous visits with Heads of State and other public figures. Of special importance was her efforts with Queen Marie of Romania, often considered the first Monarch to accept Bahá'u'lláh. Martha Root is known to have said: "Step aside and let Bahá'u'lláh do it" in regards to teaching and spreading the Bahá'í teachings. The following source gives one of the best description of her life:

Related Topics:
Bahá'í Faith - Shoghi Effendi - Guardian - Queen Marie of Romania - Bahá'u'lláh

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fame

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"By most standards, prominence in a community means some combination of power and wealth. For Bahá'ís, however, prominence is measured primarily in terms of service. The elected administrators of the Bahá'í Faith may be said to be prominent people in its community, but they gain no personal power or wealth from such service."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Early Life

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martha Root was born on August 19, 1872 to Timothy and Nancy Root in Richwood, Ohio. She had two older brothers, Clarence and Claude. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Cambridgeboro, Pennsylvania, where her father ran a dairy farm. Martha (or Mattie, as they called her) wasn't a typical girl, however. Her interest lay in books rather than the usual domestic pursuits, and when she was 14 she earned enough money from writing to pay for a trip to Niagara Falls. She distinguished herself in high school and college, attending Oberlin College (where she designed her own program) and earning her degree from the University of Chicago in 1895." (Source 1)

Related Topics:
Ohio - Pennsylvania

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Life of Service

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The course of her life changed in 1909 when she met Roy C. Wilhelm, who introduced her to the Bahá'í Faith and gave her some literature. Martha researched the young religion for several months, and also met with several members of the Bahá'í community, including Thorton Chase and Arthur Agnew in Chicago. Later that year, she declared her faith in Bahá'u'lláh. In September 1909, Martha wrote a detailed article on the history and teachings of the Bahá'í Faith for the Pittsburgh Post, and in 1911 she participated in the first annual Bahá'í convention in Chicago. But as with so many other American Bahá'ís of that day, the pivotal events in her life came in 1911 and 1912.

Related Topics:
Thorton Chase - Bahá'u'lláh - 1912

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During those extraordinary months, 'Abdu'l-Bahá traveled through the U.S. and Canada, personally spreading His Father's teachings and affording the young Bahá'í community a spiritual and practical boost. Martha attended as many of these meetings as possible, and even arranged for the Master to present a talk in Pittsburgh. In that city, she was blessed by two private interviews with Him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Energized by these meetings, Martha began to plan a world teaching trip. She set sail from New York on the first leg of this trip on January 30, 1915. After visiting a number of countries, she had planned to go to Palestine to see 'Abdu'l-Bahá and visit the Holy Places. But war had engulfed the region, which was occupied by German and Turkish troops. She wasn't permitted entry. Instead, she traveled to Egypt where she stayed for about six months and wrote newspaper articles, including a number about the plight of the thousands of Jews who had been expelled from Palestine by the Ottomans and subsequently rescued by the U.S.S. Tennessee and brought to Alexandria. Later she went to Bombay and Rangoon, then Japan, then Hawaii. She arrived in San Francisco on August 29, 1915." (Source 2)

Related Topics:
Abdu'l-Bahá - Egypt - Palestine - Bombay - Rangoon - Japan - Hawaii

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later Years

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Martha's father died on November 3, 1922 at the age of eighty-five. Martha herself was now 50, but with an inheritance to help pay the bills and no obligations holding her back, the time of her greatest service had arrived. She left her home town and became, in a very real sense, a citizen of the world, traveling continuously. She taught about Bahá'u'lláh throughout the U.S. and Canada, in Japan and in China. She sent 8,000 copies of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statement on teaching the Chinese people to Bahá'ís around the world. She then taught in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Hong Kong. Everywhere she went, Bahá'í pioneers assisted her and benefited from her seemingly inexhaustible energy.

Related Topics:
Bahá'u'lláh - U.S. - Canada - Japan - China - Abdu'l-Bahá - Australia - New Zealand - Tasmania - Hong Kong

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Next Martha traveled to South Africa, where she was afforded enthusiastic receptions wherever she went. She did several radio broadcasts there, and also took some time to study Esperanto. (Lidia Zamenhof, the daughter of Ludwig Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, would later become a Bahá'í largely as a result of her acquaintance with Martha Root.)

Related Topics:
South Africa - Esperanto

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing on November 28, 1921 must have been a shock for Martha, as indeed it was for most Bahá'ís. Yet she continued to travel and teach, and achieved something not only remarkable but indeed unprecedented.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

However the idea came to her, Martha acted on it in characteristic fashion: when she arrived in Bucharest in 1923, she sent the Queen (Queen Marie of Rumania) a copy of Esselmont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. The Queen later said that the book had arrived "at an hour of dire grief." She read it cover to cover, late into the night, and two days later granted Martha an audience in the Controceni Palace. Before long, the Queen embraced the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, becoming the first monarch to do so. Some years later, during another visit, the Queen presented Martha with a silver and gold brooch, a "family treasure." Martha sent it to Wilmette to be sold to raise funds for the House of Worship. It was bought by another Bahá'í, Willard Hatch, who then gave it to the Bahá'í International Archives.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1925 Martha was able to visit the Holy Land with Effie Baker and Corinne True, where they met Bahíyyih Khánum and Shoghi Effendi. Both made a deep impression on her. Her teaching travels took her to the British Isles, then to Germany, Greece, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Although cautioned by Shoghi Effendi she went to Iran where she hoped to meet with the Sháh, Reza Khan Pahlavi, but was unable to do so. In 1930, another attempt to meet with a head of state met with difficulty when U.S. officials initially blocked her access to Emperor Hirohito of Japan. However, she was eventually able to send the Emperor some gifts and Bahá'í books.

Related Topics:
Shoghi Effendi - Iran

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By 1936, with the planet in the grips of a second World War, Martha was still teaching throughout Europe. But her health was failing, and soon she returned to the U.S. In 1937, she traveled again to Hawaii, China and India, then throughout Australasia, returning to Hawaii in 1939. After a lengthy illness, she passed away in Hawaii on September 28, 1939." (Source 3)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~