Sarah Josepha Buell HaleIt was Sarah Josepha Buell Hale who we have to thank for our American Thanksgiving holiday. She was like an original Martha Stewart, the domestic goddess of the 1800's. She fought for over forty years to have Thanksgiving declared a national holiday, writing to congressmen and five presidents before finally influencing President Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863.
Sarah Hale was an interesting woman, born on a farm in Newport, New Hampshire in 1788; she received her education at home but was later tutored by her brother Horatio Buell, who attended Dartmouth College. Sarah learned enough to start a school for boys and girls. In 1813 Sarah fell in love with and married David Hale a young lawyer. She was expecting her fifth child when her husband died suddenly from pneumonia just two weeks before their son was born on October 9, 1822.
Left with five children to raise Sarah looked for a means to provide for the family, first trying her hand at running a millinery shop with her sister-in-law. She did not enjoy the work and would spend her free moments writing and reading. In five years she published her first novel which led to her ultimate job as editress, her term, of a magazine for women, American Ladies Magazine. Later the journal was sold and became Godey's Lady's Book, where she remained until her retirement at age eighty-nine.
She was opinionated, believing women should be accepted into medical school and was a strong advocate for education for women. In her first novel, Northwood: A Tale of New England, she made clear her abolitionist views. Despite her championing causes for the education of women and her progressive beliefs she did not believe in a woman's right to vote, perhaps she was more comfortable with conforming to the Victorian conventions of the time rather than the militant attitudes of the Suffragettes.
But it is Sarah Josepha Hale we need to thank this year when we sit down to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday tradition.
Thank you Annie on the history of how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. It is my favoite holiday. Sarah Josepha Hale was a remarkable person.
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