HENRY NEWLIN STOKES
He belongs to that vast, nameless group of individuals who in their own quiet and committed way contribute whatever talent and resources they possess to making their society more enlightened, humane, ethical, or materially better off than it was before their entry onto the human stage."
"He was a friend of the friendless and a contentious and outspoken antagonist of the powerful."
-James A. Santucci
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A few years ago I typed my grandfather's name into a search engine. I'd done it a few months before and was pleased to find some webpages about him, including several that contained photographs. He was an expert in syphilis in his time, and quite well-known. On this particular occasion, I ended up landing on a page that mentioned my grandfather's name but only in regard to the fact that he was someone's son. The page, to my surprise, was all about his father -
my great-grandfather, Henry Newlin Stokes, for whom I am partially named after (there's another Henry on my mother's side as well). I couldn't believe my discovery. I knew next to nothing about him. The webpage article, written by Prof. James Santucci, explained in detail his association with an occult group, his creation of a free-lending library, and his admirable work with prison reform. I became fascinated and have decided to continue to investigate. These pages contain my findings as they occur.
Henry Newlin Stokes was born in Moorestown, N.J., Oct. 24, 1859 to Dr. John Hinchman, M.D. ("Uncle Doctor") and Tabitha (Jenkins) Stokes. Little is known about his childhood (though apparently his father was something of a practical joker especially around young children). In 1878, he got his B.S. from Haverford College in Pennsylvania. A lot happened to him in 1884 : he received his Ph.D. from John Hopkins, married Wilhelmina van den Berg of Amsterdam, Holland, and moved abroad to the University of Munich and Federal Polytechnic Zurich, Switzerland, where he stayed until 1889. He had four children; the first being John Hinchman (my grandfather, born in Munich, Germany 9/1/1885), but there was also the mysterious Dorothy N. and Harmina (a fourth - H.N., jr. - most likely died in infancy). In 1889, Henry became a chemist for the U.S. Geological Survey back in the States (Washington D.C. presumably). Something happened in 1892, because he wasn't on the Survey any more, but then in 1894 he was back on again, and he remained until 1903, when he was appointed with the high honor of associate chemist for the Federal Bureau of Standards. This was the same year that Henry joined the Theosophy Society. In 1904, a woman named Agnes Marsland arrived in Washington D.C. (from Europe, I believe), and she and Henry met. Soon after, he joined her cult, the Order of the Initiates of Thibet (founded by the psychic Dr. Albert de Sarak over in Europe back in 1902). And a year after joining, in 1905, Henry and his wife separated - with the presence of Miss Marsland probably not helping. That same year Henry started up the Oriental Esoteric Library with its primary purpose being the dissemination of occult literature. In 1907, he decided to start lending out the books free of charge. At this time, he was still working as a chemist on the Bureau of Standards. On Halloween 1909, The Washington Post wrote an article (located in the Marsland section linked below) about Marsland and the Initiates of Thibet. That same year, Henry retired from the Bureau, either because he was made to by the Bureau due to "social grounds" (having to do with his ex-wife's adultery allegations), or because he wanted to devote all of his time to the rapidly growing library. Then Sarak threw Marsland, Henry, and others out of his Order in 1910. The reason appears to stem from a disagreement between Sarak and Marsland about the procedures of electing officials, admitting members, and matters relating to conduct in the Order. However, Henry himself wrote this in a letter to Julien Ortiz (9/3/12) : "Less than a year ago Miss Marsland admitted to me that she had detected Sarak in a forgery of telegrams, and yet knowing this, for seven years she continued to work under his direction, to hold him up to the O.E.C. and O.E.S. as a spiritual authority, and to get the members to celebrate the birthday of Sarak's son as the beginning of "The New Era." Marsland still maintained leadership of her members by establishing her own order called the Oriental Esoteric Society. In 1911, Henry started writing a publication he called the O.E. Library Critic. At about the same time, the O.E. Society associated itself with the Universal Brotherhood. Henry hated the U.B., calling it a "most insidious and dangerous institution". This led understandably in 1912 to a doctrinal disagreement between him and Marsland and the rest of the O.E.S., and additionally to his "retirement" from O.E.S. Afterwards, Henry went and renewed his membership in the American section of the Theosophical Society and O.S.E., and started advocating them in his Critic. After Henry was shooed out, the O.E.S claimed that Henry's O.E. Library was their rightful property and not his. They started circulating libelous literature about him and went so far as to sue him. In 1913, Henry won the court case and got to keep his Library. On his own, Henry continued writing the Critic. He formed the O.E. Library League, "an informal association of persons who wished to correspond with one another on various topics". He became a watchdog for the larger Theosophy movement, coining the popular phrase "Back to Blavatsky" in 1917 in an effort to get people back to her original teachings. One of his main goals became prison reform. The Who's Who of 1936-37 lists his occupation as social worker. He died in 1942. |
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Click to find out more about:
Henry Newlin Stokes
Agnes Marsland
Albert de Sarak
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~~~~~~~~~Time-Line~~~~~~~~~
Very special thanks to Prof. James Santucci - without whom, I would have known none of this.