The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-11-22
!" "THASKsaIyIsae HISTORY.

The New England origin of Thanks
giving Day is disputed in Brodhead's 8
History of New York. which cites
several Thanksgiving proclamations Of
Dutch Colonial Governors, who were
not likely to follow Connecticut or
Massachusetts, Bay and Plymouth In
truth, two lines of traditional observ-
ance may be traced in the Colonies of
New England and New Netherlands,
and it is possible that both streams have
their source in the low countries of
Holland. Probably the original idea is
given in the Hebrew :. feast of taber-
nacles," or "feast of ingathering at
the close of the year,
The earliest Thanksgiving Day in
America which has been put on record
is, without doubt, that named in Elder
Brewster's well-known letter, when,
after the first harvest at Plymouth, in
1921, Gov. Bradford sent four men out
fowling, that they might after more
special manner rejoice together" The
appointment of the fowlers seems to
have been official, and the Thanksgiv-
ing turkey has this ancient and honor
able ancestry. but whether there was a
formal appointment of the day does not
appear SO plainly. 1t may have been
evolved by natural process from the
JOY at good harvest from that rugged
virgin soil
The earliest-recorded appointment of
a Thanksgiving Day was two years
later. In July. 1923, there had been an
unfavorable season, and long drought
threatened famine; so day of fasting
and prayer was appointed, and, in the
midst of its sad and prayerful observ-
ance, the rain came. and came abund-
antly, SO that Massasoit and other In
dians, who were present, were amazed,
and the Governor appointed a day of
thanksgiving for the answer to prayer.
Then those praying men gathered in
the Fort Church, and Elder Brewster
preached a sermon, which, whatever
other faults it had, was certainly not
short. pf tfJqRH gBa tt
There was "a like change of Fast Day
into Thanksgiving, in Charlestown, in
1851, when the blessing was not rain,
but the arrival of a ship with supplies.
In 1888 there was a joint observance Of
a day in Boston and Plymouth, upon
the recommendation of Gov. Winthrop
to his own Colony, and his invitation to
the neighbor Colony. Then the Col
onial records show official appointments
of such days in the Colony of Massa-
chusetts Bay, in 1854, 1857, 1858 and
1859; and in the Plymouth Colony in
1861, 1868, 1850, 1859 and 1890; and the
form of the proclamation in 1850 shows
that the custom had then become an
nual, instead of the special occasional
Thanksgiving of the beginning, and
from an uncertain place all around the
year, had settled down to fixed home
in the late autumn or early winter.
That custom, once fixed in New En-
gland, held on with such honor, that
the adoption and preservation of the
institution, if not its invention, may
justly be claimed by the land of pump
kin-pie.
The Dutch Governors of New Amster-
dam appointed occasional Days of
Thanksgiving in 1914, 1915, 1865 and
1864; and the English Governors fol-
lowed their example in 1865 and 1850;
and the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States, in its prayer-book,
ratified in 1889, recommends for Thanks
giving Day the first Thursday in Novem-
Der, unless some other day be appointed
by the civil authorities. There were
also occasional recommendation by
other religious bodies, but no regular
annual Recommendation by the Governor
of New York before 1917. From that
time the observance gradually crept
southwark and westward, and in 1856
Gov. johnson, of Virginia, adopted it;
and though in 1857 Gov. Wise, of Vir-
ginia, rejected it, saying that he was
unauthorized to interfere in religious
matters, in 1858 Thanksgiving Day
was proclaimed in eight of the Southern
States. The Western States had long
before followed the lead of New En-
gland.
: The day had thus naturally grown to
be a National institution, of almost uni
versal observance, when the civil war
brought to sudden ripeness this, along
with many other tendencies, and Presi-
dent Lincoln put upon it the seal OF his
official proclamation. In this he only
returned to the custom of the Revolu-
ton, during which great struggle the
day was annually recommended by the
Continental Congress, which also or
dered a general thanksgiving for peace,
inl7S4. Washington issued two thanks
giving proclamations, in 1889 and in
1895; and Madison issued one upon the
declaration of peace in 1915. President
Lincoln's first proclamation was in 1862,
on account of the first important victory
of the National arms. He issued SINH
lar Recommendation in 1868, and in that
year began the Presidential proclama-
ton of the annual Thanksgiving Day in
November.-Re Fraaklin Noble, an ~.