 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
~~
`Abdu'l-Bahá’s Immigration Record
~~
`Abdu'l-Bahá was the son of Bahá'u'lláh and Head of the Bahá'í Faith. A religious prisoner of the Ottoman Turks for more than forty years, after His release following the Young Turk revolution, He came to the West -- twice to Europe, and once to America, April-December 1912. This photograph of Him was taken in Europe:
In his definitive history of the first century of the Bahá'í Faith, Shoghi Effendi has written of `Abdu'l-Bahá's arrival in the New World:
"Again taking up His residence in Ramleh [Egypt], where He passed the winter, He embarked, on His second journey to the West, on the steamship Cedric, on March 25, 1912, sailing via Naples direct to New York where He arrived on April 11." (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 281. Also see pp. 171-172 of H. M. Balyuzi's `Abdu'l-Bahá.)
S.S. Cedric -- the ship that brought `Abdu'l-Bahá to America
Another view of the Cedric, from a postcard of the era
`Abdu'l-Bahá took passage on the S.S. Cedric from Egypt to Naples. When He arrived in Europe, He learned that some of the Bahá'ís had arranged for Him to leave the Cedric, and had purchased passage for Him on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. He chose instead to remain on the Cedric, later saying to a companion that His heart had not directed Him to accept the Titanic ticket. A few days after `Abdu'l-Bahá's arrival in America, the Titanic was lost at sea. Later, `Abdu'l-Bahá said at a gathering in Washington, D.C., "I was greatly affected by this disaster. Some of those who were lost, voyaged on the Cedric with us as far as Naples and afterwards sailed upon the other ship. When I think of them I am very sad indeed." (The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 46-48).
The Arrival Record
Whenever a ship came to New York Harbor in the early 20th century, an immigration report (called an "inspection record") was prepared of all of the passengers. Often, three reports were prepared: One for American citizens; the second for the crew; and the third for citizens of other countries. The citizens from other countries (called "aliens" in the immigration records) were themselves composed of two groups: Those coming to America to stay permanently, and those coming temporarily as tourists, businesspeople, or students. Only those aliens coming to America to stay permanently were processed through the famous facility at Ellis Island.
Ellis Island 1905, image from the Library of Congress website
Those coming on tourist visas, such as `Abdu'l-Bahá, were questioned on the boat in New York Harbor by the ship's surgeon, who prepared an immigration inspection report, then they went ashore. This particular report includes some of the foreign visitors in the first-class cabin including at least one Italian diplomat, and some of the American citizens. Additional Ellis Island records (not included here, but available on the Ellis Island website) show that a large number of Italian citizens and more American citizens, were also on board. The Cedric was capable of carrying nearly 3,000 passengers, mostly in steerage.
The two-page immigration inspection report of `Abdu'l-Bahá has been obtained from the Ellis Island website http://www.ellisisland.org.
page 1 page 2
This ship manifest lists `Abdu'l-Bahá and some of His companions, provides some biographical and personal data, and shows the written record of the brief immigration inquiry. `Abdu'l-Bahá is passenger #8.
On page 2, it is interesting to note that `Abdu'l-Bahá listed "104 Wall St." as the address of friends in America. I believe this was the office address of Mr. Roy Wilhelm, a coffee importer and prominent early Bahá'í. Other Ellis Islands records show that his name and address were also given by other Bahá'í visitors to the United States.
It should be noted that on page 2, the heading for column 19 asks "Ever in prison...?" This column in `Abdu'l-Bahá's row (#8) simply has a mark in it -- not indicating yes or no. Since `Abdu'l-Bahá had been a prisoner for most of His life, if this question had actually been asked of Him, it would have been marked "Yes." In any event, He would not, of course, have been refused admission. As the captain's affidavit shows (page 4), only those who had committed crimes of moral turpitude were excludable. `Abdu'l-Bahá's imprisonment was for having promoted a new Revelation from God, that of His Father, Bahá'u'lláh.
It is also interesting that on page 1, column 6 gives `Abdu'l-Bahá's occupation as "Author." This may be an apropos description, because the holdings of His authenticated Tablets at the Bahá'í World Center number more than 15,000.
Here are the affidavits of the ship's surgeon (page 3), and of the captain of the vessel (page 4), regarding these ship manifests. It is believed that these signatures were written on the reverse of every page of the passenger manifest.
page 3 page 4
During His nine month tour of America, `Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at churches and synagogues, universities and missions for the poor, women's clubs and peace conferences; He was a keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual Conference of the NAACP; He addressed the entire assemblage of the faculty and student body of Stanford University; He met with diplomats, rabbis, ministers, Senators and Supreme Court justices; He was the guest of Alexander Graham Bell at his home; and He had a portrait done by Khalil Gibran. The authentic record of His public addresses is found in The Promulgation of Universal Peace, ISBN 0-87743-172-8.
The Traveling Companions of `Abdu'l-Bahá
Bahá'í historian H. M. Balyuzi writes: "Six Western Bahá'ís -- Mr. Woodcock of Canada, his wife and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Ashton of Denver, and Miss Matthew of London -- had also joined the S.S. Cedric at Naples." (H. M. Balyuzi, `Abdu'l-Bahá, pp. 171-172). On the same page with `Abdu'l-Bahá (page 1, above), passenger #6 is Louisa Mathew of London. A white British woman, she was later to marry Louis Gregory, a prominent African-American Bahá'í, at the suggestion of `Abdu'l-Bahá. Their marriage, along with the laying of the cornerstone for the Bahá'í House of Worship near Chicago, ranks among the most significant of `Abdu'l-Bahá's contributions to the development of the American Bahá'í community during this visit (God Passes By, p. 288).
The Eastern traveling companions of `Abdu'l-Bahá, also shown on page 1 and 2, are His personal attendant Siyyid Assadu'llah (#9), His physician and translator Dr. Aminu'llah Farid (#10) and His scribe and chronicler Mirza Mahmud Zarqani (#13). Please also note passenger #3, Mr. D'Amato, who is discussed below.
The American citizen Bahá'ís -- the Woodcock and Ashton families mentioned above -- are shown on the following pages of the passenger manifest:
page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8
Mention is made in accounts of the Cedric's cross-Atlantic journey that among the passengers with whom `Abdu'l-Bahá spoke were the Italian and Russian consuls. On the same page with `Abdu'l-Bahá (page 1), passenger #3 is Tommaso D'Amato, the Chancellor of the Italian Embassy. On page 9 below, passenger #17, Mr. Bartoli, is listed as the "Italian Royal Commissioner."
page 9
Research on the Ellis Island passenger manifest website
A note on the Ellis Island website research: `Abdu'l-Bahá's name is mis-spelled in the website, so cannot be found by a direct name search, but if you enter the name Said Assadallah with exactly that spelling you will find the correct manifest.
Credit and gratitude are due to the volunteers from the Latter-Day Saints Church who laboriously typed every one of the millions of names from these manifests to create the Ellis Island website. Mistakes are inevitable on that site because, first of all, there was no consistent INS method of transliterating names. Amin Farid was in this instance listed as Ameen Fareed. Secondly, the handwriting of the ship's surgeon was often illegible; in this case "Fareed" was typed as it appears to be written in this record, as "Farced," through no fault of the typist, who had no way of knowing the true spelling. This information on the typed entries is found by going to the website, locating this record, then selecting the option for the typed version of the manifest.
Prepared by Brent Poirier, Las Cruces, New Mexico USA © 2002
No copyright is claimed to any of the images on this site