Florence Breed Khan Explained

Florence Breed Khan
Birth Date:1875
Birth Place:Lynn, Massachusetts, US
Death Place:Teaneck, New Jersey, US
Children:3, including Marzieh Gail
Mother:Alice Ives Breed

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.

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 1915, 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). 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]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Willard. Frances Elizabeth. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Livermore. Mary Ashton. 1893. Moulton. 118. 9780722217139. en.
  2. News: 1904-10-30. Boston Girl Wedded to Persian Nobleman. 1. The Boston Globe. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: 1904-11-06. Persian Weds American. 8. Bisbee Daily Review. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  4. Book: Leonard. John William. Who's who in America. Marquis. Albert Nelson. 1914. A.N. Marquis. 1313. en.
  5. News: 1911-07-27. Mirza and Mme. Kuli Khan. 8. The Valley Falls New Era. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  6. News: 1910-10-09. Persian Diplomat with American Wife. 40. The Spokesman-Review. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  7. News: 1915-05-31. Mme. Ali-Kuli Khan is Now in Frisco. 6. The Washington Herald. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  8. Web site: Heller. Wendy. 2016. Gail, Marzieh. 2020-08-06. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  9. News: 1915-03-22. Women in the News. 2. Passaic Daily News. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1918-09-25. Returning to Persian Legation. 10. Evening Star. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1910-10-30. Boston Woman Chatelaine. 67. The Boston Globe. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  12. Web site: Menon. Jonathan. April 20, 2012. 'Abdu'l-Bahá Comes to Washington. 2020-08-06. 239 Days in America. 20 April 2012 . en-US.
  13. Book: Lee, Anthony A.. Circle of Unity: Baháʼí Approaches to Current Social Issues. 1984. Kalimat Press. 978-0-933770-28-7. 42–43. en.
  14. Book: Rhodes. Susie Root. The Economy Administration Cook Book. Hopkins. Grace Porter. 1913. Syndicate Publishing Company. 48–49. en.
  15. News: 1914-03-22. Popular Matron Whose Functions Feature Capital's Social Season. 9. The Washington Post. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: 1925-04-18. Diplomat's Wife to Speak. 9. Evening Star. 2020-08-07. Newspapers.com.
  17. Web site: Chen. Constance M.. 1996. Obituary: Marzieh Nabil Carpenter Gail (1908-1993): Translator and Author, "Patron Saint" of Women Bahá'í Scholars. 2020-08-06. Baháʼí Studies Review. en-US.
  18. News: 1950-06-26. Mme Ali Kuli Khan Stricken at Concert. 4. The Record. 2020-08-06. Newspapers.com.
  19. Book: Gail, Marzieh.. Other people, other places. 1982. G. Ronald. 0-85398-122-1. Oxford [Oxfordshire]. 9890120.
  20. Book: Gail, Marzieh.. Summon up remembrance. 1987. G. Ronald. Ali-Kuli Khan, 1879-. 0-85398-258-9. Oxford [England]. 19624777.
  21. Book: Gail, Marzieh.. Arches of the years. 1991. Ronald. 0-85398-325-9. Oxford. 24697096.

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