This Day In Founders History – 24 October

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Email | RSS

[private FP-Yearly|FP-Monthly|FP-Yearly-WLK]

[/private]

This Day In Founders History – 24 October

One notable birthday on this day in history in 1749, that of Jared Ingersoll. Ingersoll served the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania and signed the Constitution. He also served as both Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for Pennsylvania.

Another birthday on this day in 1788, that of Sarah Josepha Hale, American writer and editor. Hale was educated by her mother, self-educated, and then aided by her brother. At the age of 35, Hale published a collection of poems and later a novel. A collection of poems she had published included one that every American child today knows, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” originally called “Mary’s Lamb.” Her novel made her one of the first female American novelists and one of the first Americans to write a book about slavery. John Blake offered Hale a position as editor of his journal, Ladies’ Magazine. Hale’s goal for the magazine was to help educate women, “not that they may usurp the situation, or encroach on the prerogatives of man; but that each individual may lend her aid to the intellectual and moral character of those within her sphere.” Louis Antoine Godey hired Hale as editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, his journal he had merged with American Ladies’ Magazine. Hale was editor for Godey’s for the next 40 years, retiring at the age of 89. Hale continued to write poetry and novels, with almost 50 published volumes in her lifetime. Sarah did not support suffrage but rather encouraged the development of women through education and economic independence. She was a champion of higher education for women, helping to found Vassar College. Hale founded the Seaman’s Aid Society, which gave assistance to families of Boston sailors who died at sea, advocated for the preservation of George Washington’s Mount Vernon as a symbol of patriotism, and raised $30,000 in funds to complete the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston.

AbbyMcGinnis

See Full Bio