April 5. On this date in 1841, Chester Ira Thacher was born. He was an early American Bahá'í who served as Chairman of the Chicago House of Spirituality and was named a Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

 

April 5. On this date in 1841, Chester Ira Thacher was born. He was an early American Bahá'í who served as Chairman of the Chicago House of Spirituality and was named a Disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Chester Ira Thacher was born in Hornellsville, New York, om April 5, 1841 to a Puritan father, who died when he was young, and an Irish mother. He studied medicine at Michigan University, and progressed to studying at the Homeopathic Hospital College of Cleveland, Ohio, graduating in 1879. In 1880 he moved to Chicago, where he began studying electricity. In 1881 he began investigating whether there was a connection between magnetism and healing and founded the Thacher Magnetic Shield Company which manufactured a device which purported to improve circulation and cure illness by exposing the patient to magnetic waves, claiming that magnetism is the life of the blood. This alienated him from the medical community, nevertheless the company continued to operate even after Chester's death.

Chester was a member of the Oriental Order of the Magi, a fraternal society. He came into contact with Ibrahim George Kherailla in the 1890's, likely because they both had offices located in the Chicago Masonic Temple. He attended a course of classes on the Faith taught by Kherailla, finishing the course and becoming a Bahá'í on June 18, 1897.  Lua Getsinger was a servant in Chester's home and was likely introduced to Kherailla's class through him.

In 1899 the Bahá'í community of Chicago was reorganized and Chester was selected as President of the community. In 1900 he likely assisted Thornton Chase in establishing the Chicago Board of Council, and he was elected as an inaugural member of the body.

In May 1901 the Board of Council was reconstituted on the advice of Mírzá Asadu'lláh, who provided the community with guidance ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had written for the local administrative body of the Tehran Bahá'í community, and Chester was not re-elected to the newly formed body. He was elected to the body in March 1902, then called the House of Spirituality, and chosen as Chairman.

Chester died on May 31, 1907 due to heart disease in New York, having traveled to the city to visit his son and nephew. He was buried with a Bahá'í burial ringstone, and both a Bahá'í and Episcopalian service were held at his funeral. He was survived by his son Fielding Javonne Thacher, who had also become a medical doctor and remained an Episcopalian. Fielding donated an oil painting of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the Chicago House of Spirituality shortly after his father's death.