SARAH JOSEPHA HALE
G'day folks,
Ever heard of Sarah Josepha Hale? Well, she was a renowned 19th-century writer and editor who pushed for
girls’ education reform and the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national
holiday.
“Everything that contributes to bind us in one
vast empire together, to quicken the sympathy that makes us feel from the icy
North to the sunny South that we are one family, each a member of a great and
free Nation, not merely the unit of a remote locality, is worthy of being
cherished.”
—Sarah
Josepha Hale
Synopsis
Sarah J.
Hale was born in 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire, going on to work in
publishing after the death of her husband in 1822. In addition to writing
the children’s classic poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Hale was a novelist and
magazine editor, helming Godey’s Lady’s Book for decades. She was also
an ardent supporter of girls receiving an education and became known as the
Mother of Thanksgiving for her push to make the celebration a national holiday.
Background and Early Writing
Sarah
Josepha Buell was born on October 24, 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire. She
received private tutoring from her brothers growing up and later became a
teacher herself at a school in her hometown. She married lawyer David Hale in
1813, and the couple went to have five children. David died of a stroke in
1822, and, after working in the millinery trade for a short time, Sarah
embarked on a career as a writer and editor to support her family. She went on
to anonymously pen the 1823 book The Genius of Oblivion and Other Original
Poems, and a few years later released the novel Northwood: A Tale of New
England (1827).
Famed Publishing Career and Poetry
Towards
the end of the decade, Hale took on a position as editor of Ladies’ Magazine,
later called American Ladies’ Magazine. She did a bulk of the writing
for the publication while also relying on other contributors for original
content, though in 1837 the magazine was acquired by Louis Godey. It eventually
became known as Godey’s Lady’s Book, and Hale continued to work for the
magazine for 40 years, relocating to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and focusing on
what was seen as feminine etiquette of the day. The publication would
eventually have a circulation of 150,000 and published the work of prominent
scribes like Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Hale had
also worked with childhood educators and penned Poems for Our Children
(1830), which included the poem “Mary’s Lamb,” later becoming widely known as
“Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Over the forthcoming decades, Hale continued to
release works from a variety of genres, including Three Hours; or, The Vigil
of Love: and Other Poems (1848) and Women’s Record; or, Sketches of All
Distinguished Women, from “The Beginning” till A.D. 1850, which had
multiple editions and is credited as the first work to honor female writers.
Girls' Education and Thanksgiving
Hale was
a staunch proponent of education for girls and women, pushing for entrance into
professions like teaching and eventually medicine. She helped establish the
Troy Female Seminary and finance Vassar College and campaigned for women to
join the institution’s faculty. But Hale did not support suffrage and the
feminist call for equal access to a wide range of work and did not take up
abolitionist causes with other women reformers, though she took an anti-slavery
stance in Northwood.
Hale has
also been called by some the Mother or Godmother of Thanksgiving as she
ardently pushed for some time to have the day recognized as a national holiday.
Thanksgiving was regularly celebrated by different parts of the country, but
not in a particularly unified way. During the Civil War, Hale wrote a letter to
President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William Seward in 1863 calling upon the leaders
to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday. The president followed suit,
ultimately leading to a fixed time of annual celebration over the years.
Sarah J.
Hale retired at the age of 89 from the editorial and writing work that came to
define and enrich her life. She died on April 30, 1879 in Philadelphia.
Clancy's comment: Well, there ya go. I've learnt two things whilst researching this woman. Yet again, another outstanding woman of her time.
I'm ...
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