004 - Chapter 4

Isabella Matilda Davis Brittingham stands out as a pioneering figure in early American Baháí history. Designated posthumously by Shoghi Effendi as one of the 19 Disciples of Abdul-Bahá and Heralds of the Covenant, she was born in 1852 to a lineage linked to a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1898, following her sister-in-laws introduction to the Baháí Faith, Isabella embraced the burgeoning community. Her transformative pilgrimage to the Holy Land in September 1901 led to a profound encounter with Abdul-Bahá, the Faiths leader and son of its Founder, Baháulláh. Inspired by her experiences, she authored The Revelation of Baha-ullah in a Sequence of Four Lessons, published in 1902 by the Bahai Publishing Society of Chicago. This work, which went through nine editions by 1920, remains one of the earliest and most accurate portrayals of the Baháí Faith in the West, aimed at illuminating the truth of Baháulláhs Revelation through the lens of Biblical prophecy.