The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-11-23
THANKSGIVING DAY - PERIOD
HAS ELASTIC HISTORY

Thursday, the 10Th, last Thursday
in this month, is Thanksgiving Day,
so designated by proclamation OF
President Roosevelt, the Governor OF
our State, as well as Governors OF
other States throughout the Union.
The day is set apart to returning
thanks for the many blessings which
we, as a people of this much favored
land, have been permitted to enjoy,
and these are legion, despite the fact
that much distress, privation and
misery prevails in our midst as well,
in these times of depression.
Not all Thanksgiving have fallen
on Thursday, as many have sup
posed, and the first one was not
named by Governor Bradford in
1921.
Records at the Library of Con-
gress concerning the big day OF
pumpkin pies and turkeys reveal en-
tightening facts concerning the. orr
gin and erratic leaping about the
calendar of this old holiday, which is
popularity supposed to have been as
stable as the sun.
It's origin can literally be traced
to the Land of Canaan, for in the
Book of Judges is told of the harvest
celebration in '8he house of Cod"
and this later appeared among the
Hebrews as the Feast of Taber-
nacles."
After the Pilgrims came to Amer
lea they established a time OF thanks
giving and rejoicing for their first
harvest which had yielded well. In
october, 1921, Governor Bradford
ordered a three-day feast and cele-
bration, to which Chief Massasoit
and other Indian friends were invit-
ed. Many believe this to be the first
Thanksgiving from which the mod
ern celebration dates, but the records
at the Library of Congress do not
show that there was any special re-
ligious service during the period of
feasting
The first Thanksgiving Day after
the United States became a nation
was Thursday, November rs, 1888,
and was proclaimed by George
Washington.
The next Thanksgiving Day was
Thursday, February 19, 1875. From
that time on the day followed an
erratic course, hurdling over three
years until President John Adams in
1889 decided to appoint Wednesday
May 8, as the time for national
thanksgiving.
May must have been little toe
warm for turkey and pie, for the
next year President Adams set April
25. President Madison proclaimed
a Thanksgiving Day in each of the
four years he was in Office, and he
was a consistent Thursday man, but
selected a different month for each
one: the third Thursday in August
1S12-the second Thursday in Sep
TENDER, 1873; Thursday, January
~, 1914, and the second Thursday
in April, 1915.
No more Thanksgiving proclama-
lions were issued for forty-seven
years. Then, April 10, 1852, after
'signal victories to the land and
naval forces" President Lincoln
recommended to the people of che
United States that thanks be given at
their next weekly assemblages in
their accustomed places of public
worship. President Lincoln also
proclaimed Thanksgiving days for
Thursday, August 6, 1868; the last
Thursday of November, 1863, and
the last Thursday of November,
1864.
The holiday really began to jog
along in an established order in
1866, when President Johnson be-
gan naming the last Thursday of
November for that and the succeed
ing years he was in office.
Beginning with the proclamation
of 1870, that date beanie generally
accepted as the official Thanksgiving
Two days were set apart in 1876,
the centennial year, July 4 and No
vember 80. There was also an ex-
ira Thanksgiving April 80, 1889, the
day marking the one hundredth an
niversarys of the inauguration of
George Washington.
$500