Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Jospeha Buell was born in New Hampshire in 1788,
the daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran.
Her parents believed that both sexes should be educated, and her mother schooled
her at home throughout her childhood. At
age 25, she married a lawyer named David Hale.
David died nine years later, leaving her a young widow with five
children. Sarah wore black the rest of
her life in mourning for him.
While she had support from family and friends, Sarah
turned to writing as a source of income, mostly poetry with some novels. Her writing reflected her deep Christian
faith, her disdain for the institution of slavery, and her desire for the education
of women. She ended up publishing 50
volumes of poetry and numerous novels over the course of her life, including
the famous childrens’ poem Mary Had A Little Lamb.
Sarah was asked to become the editor for a magazine called
Godey’s Lady’s Book. She agreed,
and remained in the position for forty years, preferring the title ‘Editress.’ The magazine under her watch became the most
popular magazine in the Unites States, numbering over 150,000 subscribers. Topics in the magazine covered everything
from child-rearing to women’s education to matters of fashion, style and taste. She was also unique as an editor in her day
in insisting on only American writers – many publications in her day relied
heavily on British authors. She has been
described in modern days as a combination of Oprah and Martha Stewart.
Sarah believed strongly that it was women who shaped the
morals of society, and she advocated for women to embrace this role. Her advocacy for the advanced, high-quality education
of women was essential to preparing women for “the most important vocation on
earth…that of the Christian mother in the nursery.” Her idea of the place of women in society was
that her largest influence came through her work in the home. She advocated for women to enter the
workforce in certain professions such as education, medicine, and missionary
work, but was opposed to the idea of women’s suffrage – believing that if women
got involved in politics it would dilute her influence where it mattered most, with
her children. She is quoted as saying, “What
has made this nation great? Not its
heroes, but its households.”
Sarah was also very active in philanthropy. She was the driver for the current monument
that stands at the Bunker Hill battlefield and was active in ensuring the
preservation of George Washington’s Mount Vernon home. She also helped to fund Vassar College, an
all-women’s college, in 1861.
Sarah was also an early advocate for Thanksgiving as a
national holiday. President Washington
had written during his tenure a non-binding Thanksgiving proclamation which was
celebrated individually in some states on different days, or not at all. Many in that day even considered Washington’s
letter to be unconstitutional, violating the separation of church and state. From her position as Editress, Sarah wrote
Presidents Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan,
and Abraham Lincoln advocating the establishment of a national Thanksgiving holiday.
She succeeded in getting President Lincoln to declare a
national day of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of 1863, as a brief respite
from the horrors of the Civil War, but the holiday did not become a permanent
holiday until President Franklin Roosevelt signed it into law about 60 years
later.
