http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304281004579222432724866914?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
She wrote 30 books and poems, besides her magazine output, but did not believe in suffrage for women….rsk
A century and a half after President Abraham Lincoln designated Thanksgiving a national holiday, fans of the woman who lobbied for the commemoration are hoping she will gain fresh recognition for her many other accomplishments.
A new memorial to Sarah Josepha Hale in her hometown of Newport, N.H., might help. The memorial, dedicated before about 200 people over the weekend, was the brainchild of an anonymous donor who financed the project.
The work by Finnish sculptor Jari Mannisto, tucked into a small park near the town’s Richards Free Library, showcases Hale’s role as a writer, magazine editor and fundraiser for Boston’s Bunker Hill Monument—not to mention scribe of the poem that became the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Despite Hale’s impressive résumé, “she is off the radar, honestly,” said Patricia Okker, an English professor at the University of Missouri who wrote a book about her. “And when she is remembered, it’s almost always because of Thanksgiving, which is an interesting part of her career, but her career was so enormous.”