Sarah Josepha Buell Hale (October 24, 1788 – April 30, 1879) was an American writer, activist, and editor of the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War, Godey's Lady's Book. She was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the American Thanksgiving holiday and for the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. == Early life and family == Sarah Josepha Buell was born in Newport, New Hampshire on October 24, 1…