1788–1879

Introduction

Born: Oc­to­ber 24, 1788, New­port, New Hamp­shire.

Died: Ap­ril 30, 1879, Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Buried: Laur­el Hill Ce­me­te­ry, Penn­syl­van­ia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

portrait
portrait

Biography

Sarah was the daugh­ter of Gor­don Bu­ell and Mar­tha Whit­tle­say, and wife of law­yer Da­vid Hale (1783–1822

A mem­ber of the Pro­test­ant Epis­co­pal de­no­mi­na­tion, she ed­it­ed The La­dies’ Ma­ga­zine (Boston, Mas­sa­chu­setts) from 1828, and Go­dey’s Lady’s Book (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia) from 1837.

The se­cu­lar world rem­embers her best for her po­em Ma­ry Had a Lit­tle Lamb, first pub­lished in Ju­ven­ile Mis­cel­la­ny. In ad­di­tion, dur­ing the Am­er­ican ci­vil war, she per­suad­ed Am­er­ican pre­si­dent Ab­ra­ham Lin­coln to declare Thanks­giv­ing a na­tion­al ho­li­day.

On No­vem­ber 23, 2013, a me­mo­ri­al ex­e­cut­ed by Fin­nish sculp­tor Ja­ri Man­nis­to was de­di­cat­ed to Hale in her home town of New­port, New Hamp­shire. It fea­tured va­ri­ous sym­bols of her achieve­ments, in­clud­ing a cor­nu­co­pia in re­cog­ni­tion of her ef­forts to es­tab­lish the Thanks­giv­ing ho­li­day.

Works

Sources

Lyrics