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courtesy of NNDB |
Sarah
Josepha Buell was born October 24, 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire to parents
who believed in education for males and females. Her growing up years
she received an extensive education and married lawyer, David Hale. The couple
had 5 children, but sadly, David died during their 9th year of
marriage, leaving Sarah to raise their children. To earn an income, Sarah began
writing poetry, and penned the famous, Mary Had a Little Lamb. She
teamed with Reverend John Laurie Blake and helped establish American Ladies Magazine,
taking on the position of editor. She moved to Boston and remained there
until 1837, often using the magazine to promote women’s issues such as education,
child rearing, and reinforcing a woman’s domestic role. She didn’t support the
suffragist movement or women entering politics because she believed both would
limit a woman’s influence in the home, that women shaped the morals of society
and encouraged them to write morally uplifting novels.
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courtest of nhpr.org |
Louis
A. Godey bought out America Ladies Magazine in 1837 and changed the name to
Godey’s Ladies Book. He offered Sarah the editor position. She accepted and
moved to Philadelphia, where she remained editor for 40 years. During that
time, she championed civil rights, secured funds to preserve George Washington’s
home and to construct the Bunker Hill Monument, both of which are still open
today, and helped found Vassar College for women.
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courtest of Wikipedia |
Throughout
her childhood, Sarah celebrated Thanksgiving. She published Northwood: A
Tale of New England in 1827, which included a chapter on the Thanksgiving
celebration. Many areas in the northeast part of the country celebrated
Thanksgiving, but at the time she was editor for Godey’s, Thanksgiving was not
a federal holiday. Hoping to rectify that, she began lobbying state and federal
officials to pass legislation to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, going so
far as to set the holiday on the last Thursday in November. Her requests were mostly
ignored, nor was she the first to suggest such a day of thanks. George Washington
called for a national day of thanks after the Revolutionary war, and both John
Adams and James Madison issued their own proclamations. Nothing was ever done
until the Civil War.
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courtesy of wsj.com |
Confederate
president, Jefferson Davis, issued Thanksgiving Day proclamations in 1861 and
1862. Abraham Lincoln called for a day of thanks in April 1862 and the summer
of 1863s, and Sarah continued to lobby for a national holiday by sending
letters in September to Lincoln and William Seward, who was Secretary of State.
She firmly believed a national holiday might ease the tensions between the
north and the south and finally realized her hard efforts when, one week after receiving
her letter, Seward drafted Lincoln’s official proclamation making the last
Thursday in November an official day of Thanksgiving.
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courtesy of Pennsylvania Historic Preservation |
A true pioneer for women, Sarah
retired from Godey’s 1877. She died two years later in her Philadelphia home at
the age of 92. She’s buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery and a blue historical marker
resides at her home on Spruce Street.
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public domain |
Really interesting post, Julie. I never knew a woman was behind the holiday.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristy: I didn't know about her either. I don't think we were taught about her in school. I was looking for something Thanksgiving related for the blog and just stumbled upon her. Hugs and have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI had Godey's prints in my bedroom growing up--they did ladies' fashions to sew and the prints became highly collectible. Thanks for filling in some of that history, Julie.
ReplyDelete