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Show Thanksgiving Day The first Thanksgiving Day observed in America was that proclaimed by Governor Bradford of Plymoutn colonj in 1G21, the year following the landing of the Pilgrims. During colonial days similar observances were held on various vari-ous occasions. President Washington by proclamation proclama-tion set November 26, 1789, as a day of general thanksgiving, but during the early history of the Republic such observances wore irregular, and the several states generally set their own dates for holding them. It was not until 1864, under President Presi-dent Lincoln, that the last Thursday was settled upon as Thanksgiving Day throughout the United States. The fixing of this date is said to have been largely due to the efforts of Mrs. Sarah Hale, an American author, Mrs. Sarah J.Hale.anAmerican author, who began agitating for a uniform annual an-nual date about 1840. Each year sh; wrote to all state governor's asking that they name the last Thursday in November, and gradually they fell in with her idea. . On the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing Day wild turkey formed the chief constituent cf the feast, and ever since turkey has been inseparably associated as-sociated with the day's observance. |