Local Family's Ancestor Started Campaign To Make Thanksgiving National Holiday
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Marylanders on the road and in the air to visit with family and friends this Thanksgiving may not know that the holiday's popularity involves a Towson family's ancestor.
Sarah Josepha Hale, born in 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire, popularized the idea that wedding dresses should be white and that trees should be brought indoors and decorated for Christmas. She wrote "Mary Had A Little Lamb." She co-founded Vassar College.
Somehow, she also found the time to start a campaign to get Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.
"At the time she started her campaign, which was in 1827, Thanksgiving was only celebrated in a couple of the New England states," says Bob Hale, Hale's great-great-great grandson.
But she spent 40 years writing letters to presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, trying to get them to see the value in a national day of thanks.
Lincoln got his just after the Civil War ended. And just a few days after receiving his letter, he agreed to declare Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
"It was like a healing, a bringing together of the country," says Janet Hale, Bob's wife.
Needless to say, when the family gathers around their turkey on Thanksgiving Day, they'll be sending some thanks Sarah's way.
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