August 20. On this date in 1915, the Evening Star newspaper reported that Edward Getsinger filed for divorce from his wife Lua Getsinger, "on the ground of adultery with the co-respondents, Clifford H. Stearns and Ameen U Fareed."
Lua Getsinger was born on November 1, 1871 to a farm family near the village of Hume in upstate New York.
She became a Bahá'í in Chicago in 1897 after attending lessons taught by Ibrahim George Kheiralla about the Bahá’í Faith.
In 1898, Lua Getsinger undertook a Bahá'í pilgrimage to Palestine to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá with other American pilgrims, including Ibrahim George Kheiralla, Phoebe Hearst, and May Boles.
It was during this trip, in Akka, that Kheiralla witnessed firsthand the conflict between 'Abdu'l-Bahá and his brothers, leading him, upon his return to America in 1899, to form the "Society of Behaists" which would later be led by Shua Ullah Behai and to author a book, Beha'u'llah, wherein he states his belief that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was equal in rank to his brothers Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, Díyá'u'lláh, and Badi'u'lláh.
Ultimately, in the conflict between 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí, Kheiralla sided with the latter for which he was declared a Covenant-breaker.
Phoebe Hearst was an early Bahá'í, a wealthy philanthropist, the wife of Senator George Hearst, and the mother of publisher William Randolph Hearst. She later became estranged from the Bahá'í Faith due to being extorted for money by other Bahá'ís.
May Boles would wed William Sutherland Maxwell on May 8, 1902, in London. They met while William was studying architecture in Paris and May was the sister of one of his classmates. The couple were the parents of Mary Sutherland Maxwell, the future Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, wife of Shoghi Effendi, who was born to them on August 8, 1910. They also hosted 'Abdu'l-Bahá in their Montreal on September 2, 1912.
On June 19, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave a talk in New York about Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of the Branch, declaring himself the "Centre of the Covenant," New York the "City of the Covenant," and Lua Getsinger the "Herald of the Covenant."
Dr. Amínu'lláh Faríd (Ameen U. Fareed) was the son of Mirza Assad Ullah Fareed (who authored The School of the Prophets) and the nephew of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's wife, Munírih Khánum. He had served as 'Abdu'l-Bahá's interpreter and had been active in promoting the Bahá'í Faith. He had also received a number of Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
On December 16, 1953, Shoghi Effendi sent a cablegram stating "Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God's avenging hand struck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah."
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