Since the initial celebration between the pilgrims and the Indians 386 years ago, Thanksgiving has become a day of family gatherings, feasting, football and the last respite before the start of the Christmas shopping season.

We all vaguely know the story: In 1621, the pilgrims invited the Wampanoag Indians to join them in celebration of the fall harvest. The Indians traveled for several days, created their own camp and stayed with the pilgrims for three days of feasting and celebration. This first Thanksgiving sounds similar to our tradition of family members invading the home of others in their family for days on end.

Thanksgiving received official status in 1789, with George Washington’s first presidential proclamation, which designated the 26th day of November next, to be set aside for thanksgiving. “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God and to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor,” he wrote.

For decades afterward, different states set aside different dates to celebrate Thanksgiving. It took the persistent efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale to get the nation to observe a single day as Thanksgiving.

Hale was born in New Hampshire in 1788. Her brother, Horatio, helped her receive an education by teaching her what he learned at Dartmouth each time he returned home. After he received his diploma, he presented it to Sarah, in recognition of her accomplishment.

At 18, Sarah founded a private school and taught there until she met and married David Hale. While married, she wrote short stories and articles that were published in newspapers.

After Hale’s sudden death when Sarah was in her late 30s and her failed attempt at making and selling women’s hats, Sarah published a book that attracted the attention of the owner of a new women’s magazine, Rev. John Blake, who hired her as editor.

Hale wrote poetry and fiction. One of her best known works is the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Hale led a campaign for an official day of thanks to be celebrated throughout the country that spanned nearly 40 years during which she lobbied five presidents and wrote numerous newspaper editorials.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared a day of thanksgiving after the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg. After receiving a letter from Hale urging him to set aside a permanent, single, day of thanksgiving, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving.

His proclamation, made during the Civil War, acknowledged “The gracious gifts of the Most High God” and noted that it “seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.” Lincoln invited his fellow citizens to set apart and observe “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Continued...