The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-11-22
!" THANKSGIVING, HISTORY.
The New England oririn Of Thank

"THANKSGIvING' HISTORY.
The New England origin of Thanks
giving Day is disputed in Brodhead's
" 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 e feast of taber-
nacles," or s'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, whom,
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 wears
later In July. 1923, there had been an
unfavorable season, and long drought
threatened famine; 80 a day Of fasting
and PRAYER was appointed, and, in the
midst Of its sad and prayerful obserr.
ance. the rain came, and came abund-
antlv, so that Massasoit and other In
dams, 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. 81 ,Slael ass
There was "a like change of Fast Day
into Thanksgiving, in Charlestown, in
1881, when the blessing was not rain,
but the arrival of a ship with supplies.
In 1858 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 neiehbor Colony. Then the Col
onial records show official appointments
of such davs in the Colony of Massa-
chusetts Bay. in 1854, 1857, 1888 and.
1899: and in the Plymouth Colony in
1851, 1868. 1850, 1850 and 1890: and the
form of the proclamation in 1880 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
wear, 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 1644, 1915, 1865 and
1864; and the English Governors fol-
lowed their example in 1855 and 1860;
and the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States, in its prayer-book,
ratified in 1883, 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
southWard and westward, and IN 1890
Coy. johnson, OF Virginia, adopted 1T;
and though IN 1891 Gov. WISE, OF Vlr-
glnla, rejected 1t, saying that ne was
unauthorized to interfere in religious
matters, in 1888 thanksgiving Day