Going through family documents I came upon some old papers from my maternal grandmother, Isabelle Campbell. She was an enthusiastic member of the Bahá’í Faith in Spokane in the very early days. They had meetings in Spokane and she even traveled to Chicago, I believe, for meetings there. It was a central theme in her life. Although I do not remember her, I learned much about her through my mother. About a year ago, I donated to the local Bahá’í chapter in Bellevue WA a lot of her books, and materials for their archives.
Just recently, however, I came across a handwritten letter from Ida Finch, whom my grandmother knew and used to talk about frequently, sent from Tokyo to Spokane, dated April 2, 1920. I transcribed the letter. It gives a snapshot of what Finch was doing at the time in Japan.
I think my grandmother grew up in Minnesota and her parents and family were from Ontario. She was an interesting woman – ahead of her time – and I find her history very inspirational. She was a teacher and an artist and her husband helped build the Canadian railroad.
Finch’s words “I’m glad for your unity news and I know all of you feel much happier since you are able to meet together again, may it continue” could possibly be a reference to the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918-19 in the U.S.
- – Mary Galbraith, 2022
1. Text of letter (see images below)
2. Images of letter
(writing on back of envelope [page 2 of the PDF] in Campbell’s hand; appears to be an unrelated note)
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