Happy Thanksgiving

The first recorded Thanksgiving was May 23, 1541, in the Texas panhandle when Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado held a service of thanksgiving for finding food, water, and pasture for his animals.

The next Thanksgiving was June 30, 1564, when French Huguenot colonists celebrated near Jacksonville, FL.

On August 9, 1607, English settlers in Maine under Captain George Popham held a harvest feast and prayer meeting on the Kennebec River with the Abnaki Indians.

Beginning on December 4, 1619, Berkeley Plantation (Charles City, VA), celebrated an annual thanksgiving to God on the anniversary of their safe arrival in the New World.

The 1621 Pilgrim Thanksgiving in Massachusetts was a time of thanks giving to God. William Bradford wrote in his diary that their voyage was motivated by "a great hope for advancing the Kingdom of God."

On December 18, 1777, the Thirteen Colonies celebrated Thanksgiving for their victory at Saratoga.

George Washington declared a National Thanksgiving Day November 26, 1789, to thank God for the New Nation.

In 1861, President Jefferson Davis declared a Day of Thanksgiving across the Confederacy.

In 1863, President Lincoln followed suit for the United States.

In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.