El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-11-20
HISTORY of THANKSGIVING Day.

History of Thanksgiving Day.
The earliest record which we have
OF an Anne rican Thanksgiving Day is
found IN tt'e New England annals OF
1921. In the autumn Of tuA5 year Gov
ernor Bradford, so saith the chror lcler,
sent out men to procure some game, IN
order ths the New Engiacd colonists
mil ht properly cnjoy IA day OF thanks
giving in r. mem braucs OF the fruits Of
their Iabors during tie yea III It mai
passed. Another Say of rel ,lc1ng was
set apart snd g. O!empiz q" IS - day
OF Thanksgiving unto 'he Lord" aft r
an abundant harve55 in the year 1922.
L. is stat ed that, on this occasion, Mas
sasoi5 and his council nf braves were
Invited to particl pate n the fes ivities.
and they old SD, Spreading three oays in
feasting. Evidently the InGin n lends
of the colonists found THANKSGIVING
Day day t. b. made rhe most CT
These THANKSGIVING Days were rot,
howev, +, of Off i.I characte". Th
first officia! public Thanksgiv n DAY
was not until The year 1881: sDd even
tb is day was not 1T first intended to be
a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving.
IL had besn SCI al a as day Ct fasting
and prayer for relief. The colonists
were in great distress: famine was i'm
minept; yes e' laden with provisions
and long at sea, had not sr ived. But
just before the day of ia ting came, the
ship made port; ana the day was then
cffic ally changed by the authorities
from a day of sorrow to Gay Of Thanks
giving. This was the first real
Thanksgiving Day of the American
people.
Thanksgiving days were occasionally
observed also 10 the New Ne herlapd
after this date, but it was not until
February, 1914. that .snother official
Thanksgiving Dav as p: oclaime d That
year Cove n Kieft pro laimed "a
day Of eoeral Thanksgiving" The oc-
casion being the victory of The colonists
over the Indians. AT the conclusion OF
the peace, in 1915, another Thanksgiv-
ing Day was proclaimed. We are not
t Ia that the Indians were invited to
this ceremony.
Occasional days of fasting, prayer,
and thanksgiving were kept by the
various cOlOnists, at di rent times:
but no general Thanksgiving Day was
set apart, until I775, when the cOntin-
entail congress adopted the practice of
designating such DAYS. The ii st was
Thursday. July 20, 1775. The following
Thanksgiving days were also sugg est
ed by the continental congress: Fri
day, May II, 1776; December IL, 1776;
Wednesday, April %, 1878; Thursday,
May g., 1873; "Wednesday. April 6, 17So;
Thursday, May 3, 1881; Thursday,
gested in the form of recomm endations
to the states, whose governors were
asked to issue proclamatiOpS to their
peoples for days of Thanksgiving. Bust
ness, with one exception, was suspend
&C on this occasion. Washington also
issued spe, ial proclamation 10 the
Colonial army for a general Thanks
rix,ir lox h.
1777: and again op May Z, ITS
Tee first National Thanksgiving day
was, by proclamat on of President
Was hip gton, set for Thursday, Novem-
Der 26, 1889. The second WAS set for
Thursday. February, 10, 1885 The
honor of the first sugges ton seems to
belong to Representative Elias BOudi-
not, who moved, in the house, that the
pre- sident be requested to recomme nd
be observed by the people of the Unit
ed States; There was some opposition
TO the motion, the objecti' rs advanced
beirg that such thing might tend to
imitation of the frivolities and pomps
OF Kingdoms and other harmful ooiug:
but the motion pr va led, and Thurs
day, November 26, 1889, became the
first National Thanksgiving day of the
American people.
Other presidents, after Washing ton.
issued Thanksgiving Day proclama-
tior S. from time to time: until now it
become the annual practice of the pre-
sident of the Ur red Sta'es TO name IL e
last Thurs day in November as day to
be observed by thanksgiving and pray
err. Governors of states issue Their
proclaim ations to CORE pond, thus
making the observancs uniform
Throughout the LAID.
In the New England States Thanks
giving Day has been obser we'd annually
for over century. The custom has
extended to the other states, one at a
time, until today, cit prevails almost
everywhere in The country, ard is OBJ
served by Americans in foreign lands
with sentiment that is not only re-
ligious but patriotic. It is legal
holiday also. Accord n to the Off ia
reports Oh the subject in 1893 there
were, at that date, 'bus eight sections
of the country where TT aoksg;ving
Day was not recognized: Arkansas,
Colorado, Delaware, Georgia. Lousia-
ma, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah. The
rest of the Union had adopted the gen.
eral custom. Latest reports QSS7)
low that there are now but three
Sc tions in which Thanksgiving Day
is not officially cognized-Alabans,
Louisiana, Mississippi.-G God ey.s Ma
gazine.
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