Florence Breed Khan

Florence Breed Khan (1875 – June 24, 1950) was an American political hostess and Bahá'i convert from Boston, wife of Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, a Persian translator and diplomat.

Florence Breed Khan
Florence Breed Khan and Mirza Ali Kuli Khan in 1911, from the Library of Congress.
Born1875
Lynn, Massachusetts
DiedJune 24, 1950
Teaneck, New Jersey
Children3, including Marzieh Gail
Parent(s)

Early life

Florence M. Breed was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Francis W. Breed and Alice Ives Breed.[1] Her father was a shoe manufacturer. Her mother, an active clubwoman, was also a Bahá'i convert, introduced to the faith by suffragist Mary Hanford Ford.

Career

Breed, who acted as a young woman and studied Eastern religions and texts,[2] married a Persian diplomat, Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, in 1904.[3][4] They met when he was lecturing at Harvard University.[5] Following his diplomatic career, they lived in Washington, D.C.,[6] San Francisco,[7] Paris, Tehran, Istanbul, and Tbilisi.[8]

Khan was a society hostess in Washington while her husband was the Persian chargé d'affaires there.[9][10] "I find that few Americans, even traveled and cultured ones, know Persian as it deserves to be appreciated," she told an interviewer in 1910.[11] The Khan family greeted Bahá'i leader ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on his arrival in Washington in 1912,[12] and hosted a luncheon for him, with guests including Louis Gregory.[13] She contributed Persian recipes to The Economy Administration Cookbook (1913).[14] In 1914, she and her husband attended the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, representing Persia.[15] She was an occasional lecturer on Persia to community groups.[16]

Personal life

Florence Breed and Ali Kuli Khan had three children, Rahim (born 1905), Marzieh (1908–1993),[17] and Hamideh (1910–1989).[11] Florence Breed Khan died in 1950, in Teaneck, New Jersey, in her seventies.[18] Their daughter Marzieh Gail published a series of family memoirs, Other People, Other Places (1982), Summon up Remembrance (1987), and Arches of the Years (1991).[19][20][21]

References
  1. Willard, Frances Elizabeth; Livermore, Mary Ashton (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Moulton. p. 118.
  2. "Boston Girl Wedded to Persian Nobleman". The Boston Globe. 1904-10-30. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Persian Weds American". Bisbee Daily Review. 1904-11-06. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1914). Who's who in America. A.N. Marquis. p. 1313.
  5. "Mirza and Mme. Kuli Khan". The Valley Falls New Era. 1911-07-27. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Persian Diplomat with American Wife". The Spokesman-Review. 1910-10-09. p. 40. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Mme. Ali-Kuli Khan is Now in Frisco". The Washington Herald. 1915-05-31. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Heller, Wendy (2016). "Gail, Marzieh". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  9. "Women in the News". Passaic Daily News. 1915-03-22. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Returning to Persian Legation". Evening Star. 1918-09-25. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Boston Woman Chatelaine". The Boston Globe. 1910-10-30. p. 67. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Menon, Jonathan; April 20, 2012. "'Abdu'l-Bahá Comes to Washington". 239 Days in America. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  13. Lee, Anthony A. (1984). Circle of Unity: Baháʼí Approaches to Current Social Issues. Kalimat Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-0-933770-28-7.
  14. Rhodes, Susie Root; Hopkins, Grace Porter (1913). The Economy Administration Cook Book. Syndicate Publishing Company. pp. 48–49.
  15. "Popular Matron Whose Functions Feature Capital's Social Season". The Washington Post. 1914-03-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Diplomat's Wife to Speak". Evening Star. 1925-04-18. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-08-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Chen, Constance M. (1996). "Obituary: Marzieh Nabil Carpenter Gail (1908-1993): Translator and Author, "Patron Saint" of Women Bahá'í Scholars". Bahá'í Studies Review. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  18. "Mme Ali Kuli Khan Stricken at Concert". The Record. 1950-06-26. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-08-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Gail, Marzieh. (1982). Other people, other places. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: G. Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-122-1. OCLC 9890120.
  20. Gail, Marzieh. (1987). Summon up remembrance. Ali-Kuli Khan, 1879-. Oxford [England]: G. Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-258-9. OCLC 19624777.
  21. Gail, Marzieh. (1991). Arches of the years. Oxford: Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-325-9. OCLC 24697096.
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