Thanks 'giving' to Sarah Hale

Thanks 'giving' to Sarah Hale

Everyone knows the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, but few know that it did not become a national holiday until 1863.  Even fewer people know that much of the credit for the national holiday can be attributed to the lobbying efforts of the ‘Mother of Thanksgiving’, Sarah Josepha Hale. Sarah Hale was born in Newport, New Hampshire, in 1788.  When her husband David died, leaving her a widow with five children, she began writing poetry …