These affluent Jewish families quickly converted to the Baha'i Faith and served it when it was a Child.

In the early part of the twentieth century, as millennial expectations swept through a fast-changing world, there were many in the United States who sought spiritual awakening. On any given night in the country’s most vibrant cities, rooms were filled to capacity with spiritual seekers gathered to listen to gurus, teachers, and charlatans holding court on biblical prophecy, the End Times, and a myriad other religious subjects. Among the inquisitive souls attending such meetings in Washington D.C. was the young Pauline Hannen, the first in her family to investigate what was at the time a little-known religion of the East called the Bahá’í Faith. Pauline was enthralled by what she heard, and she quickly immersed herself in study of the new Faith and shared all that she learned with her sisters, Fanny and Alma Knobloch, and her mother Amalie. Her husband, Joseph Hannen, soon embraced the Faith as well, and the Hannens and Knoblochs became active members of the small but growing American Bahá’í community. Their embrace of the Cause came at significant personal sacrifice as it meant breaking with the social mores and status quo of Washington society as they strove to put the Faith’s social teachings into practice. They were privileged, however, to visit and correspond with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá personally and were intimately involved in serving Him throughout His visit to North America. Clearly aware of the significance of the times in which they lived, the families documented their correspondence and activities meticulously and left extensive written records of their lives. 

KNOBLOCH MEMORIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Email Date: Thursday, June 29, 2000 1:24 PM 

Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i’s of Washington, DC
 

Subject: Knobloch Family Memorial

"You are invited to a unique event that will pay tribute to a distinguished Baha'i family of Washington DC, the Knobloch family. 

Pauline Knobloch was the first of the family to become a Baha'i (in 1903), followed by her mother Amalie and her sisters Fanny and Alma. Pauline's husband, the saintly Joseph  Hannen, took notes of all Abdu’l-Bahá talks in Washington. It was through this devoted couple that Louis Gregory became a Baha'i, studying with them each week in their  modest home.
 

Fanny was the first Baha'i teacher to go to South Africa, where she stayed for three years developing the first Baha'i settlements. She returned to the US because of ill health but later, at age 68, returned to South Africa. She lived her life out at the home of Carl Hannen in Wilmette.
 

Alma Knobloch went to Germany in 1907 to implant the Baha'i Faith there. Abdu’l-Bahá instructed her to remain as long as she could and she was there through the horrors of the first world war and beyond.
 

This family is buried in a family plot at Prospect Hill cemetery just north of Rhode Island Avenue and North Capitol Street in Washington, and about 20 of the descendants are flying in to hold a commemorative ceremony there on July 8th at 11 am. You are all invited to attend, and to come for a light lunch at the Baha'i Center to meet the descendants of this outstanding family.
 

Please join us on this occasion.
 

Sincerely,
 

The Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’i’s of Washington, DC