
We may think that
the holiday of
Thanksgiving has
always been
celebrated like we
do it now--with big
meals featuring
turkey, and family
gatherings around a
football game or a
parade with giant
balloons. But the
holiday in the past
was quite different.
We've all heard
about the first
Thanksgiving when
the starving
Pilgrims shared a
peaceful bountiful
feast with their
Native American
neighbors in 1621.
But Thanksgiving
feasts occurred at
many times of the
year--chosen by the
local officials to
celebrate some
event. The
Continental Congress
proclaimed the first
National Day of
Thanksgiving in
1777. But even
before that, The
Governor of
Massachusetts made
"A Proclamation for
a Publick
Thanksgiving" in
1773.

click image to
enlarge
I HAVE therefore
thought fit to
appoint, and I do,
with the Advice of
His Majesty's
Council, appoint
Thursday the
Twenty-fifth Day of
November next to be
a Day of Publick
Thanksgiving
throughout the
Province, exhorting
and requiring the
several Societies
for Religious
Worship to assemble
on that Day, and to
offer up their
devout Praises to
GOD for the several
Mercies
aforementioned, and
for all other
Favours which He
hath been graciously
pleased to bestow
upon us,
accompanying their
Thanksgivings with
fervent Prayers
that, after they
shall have sang the
Praises of God, they
may not forget his
Works.
And all servile
Labour is forbidden
on the said Day.
But maybe Governor
Hutchinson's motives
weren't so
noble--this
province-wide
celebration was set
to take place just
about the time a
shipment of tea was
expected in Boston
harbor. The Boston
Tea Party took place
just weeks later, on
December 16th.
Hutchinson's plea to
remind the colonists
of their duty
perhaps fell on deaf
ears: to succeed His
Majesty's Councils
and Endeavours for
Preserving Peace to
the British
Dominions.
Unpopular
Hutchinson, a
prominent loyalist,
may have polarized
the colonials and
precipitated the
Revolution. You'll
notice a rectangular
section of the
broadside is missing
at the top. Here is
the missing
piece--maybe some
patriot objected to
having the British
symbol so
prominently
displayed?

British Seal- likely
what is missing from
our copy of the
Proclamation.
The Longmeadow
Historical Society
Archives includes a
diary belonging to
Stephen Colton
(1815-1893). Every
November, he made a
brief note about
Thanksgiving in 1851
like this; "27th
Thanksgiving day,
sermon by Mr.
Harding Psalms 16-6,
took supper at T. C.
Terrys."
Thanksgiving was a
Thursday that year,
and included going
to church, and
having a meal with
someone outside of
his nuclear family
(the Terrys were
in-laws).

Excerpt from 1851
Diary in Longmeadow
mentioning
Thanksgiving
The movable timing
of the holiday was
eventually
standardized by
Abraham Lincoln in
1863, when the last
Thursday of November
was selected as the
official date. Over
the years, the fact
that November
occasionally has
five Thursdays
proved to be
problematic. In
1942 Franklin Delano
Roosevelt signed
into law that
Thanksgiving Day
would always fall on
the fourth
Thursday. Some
suggested that large
retailers like
Macy's pressured the
change to give the
public another week
to do their
Christmas shopping,
since advertising
Christmas before
Thanksgiving Day was
frowned upon! What
would they think of
us now with
Christmas
advertising starting
in September?
Happy Thanksgiving
from everyone at the
Longmeadow
Historical Society!