Sarah Josepha Hale
Sarah Josepha Hale (
October 24,
1788 -
April 30,
1879) was a
United States writer. She was born in
Newport,
New Hampshire to Captain Gordon Buell and Martha Whittlesay Buell. Early on in her life, she was educated by her mother, and later on, Hale was an autodidact. In
1813, she married David Hale, a lawyer and
Freemason. She is probably best known for her successful appeal to President
Abraham Lincoln for a national holiday known as
Thanksgiving Day. In
1823, with the monetary support of her husband's Freemason lodge, she published a collection of her poems entitled
The Genius of Oblivion. From
1827 until
1836, Hale served as editor of
Lady's Magazine and from
1837 until
1877, she served as an editor of
Godey's Lady's Book. During this time, Hale wrote many
novels and
poems, publishing nearly fifty volumes of work, by the end of her life.
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