Sarah Ewing Hall (October 30, 1761 – April 8, 1830) was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, and

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

Christian literature Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing. Scripture While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally considered literature. Ho ...

. She was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

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, the daughter of the Reverend John Ewing, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church and Provost of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and Hannah (Sergeant) Ewing. She was taught at home by her father and by his learned guests' instructive dialogues. Her favorite subject was astronomy, where her father was an expert. She also gained vast knowledge of Greek and Latin when listening to her brothers recite. In 1782, she married John Hall, who was the son of a wealthy Maryland planter, and they had eleven children, residing in relative solitude on his farm in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

for the next eight years. In 1790 the family returned to Philadelphia where John Hall served as secretary of the Pennsylvania land office and a U.S. marshal from 1799 to 1801. In 1805 they moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, but later financial changes forced them to move back to Maryland, from where they returned to Philadelphia in 1811. Two of her sons were

John Elihu Hall John Elihu Hall (December 27, 1783 – June 12, 1829) was an American lawyer, writer and publisher who was born and lived for most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with important parts of his career spent in Maryland. Biography John E. H ...

and James Hall, both of whom were prominent publishers and writers. She died in Philadelphia in 1830 and was buried in the Third Presbyterian Church burial ground.

Writing career

Hall was an essayist and wrote for

Joseph Dennie Joseph Dennie (August 30, 1768January 7, 1812) was an American author and journalist who was one of the foremost men of letters of the Federalist Era. A Federalist, Dennie is best remembered for his series of essays entitled ''The Lay Preache ...

's Port Folio, a Philadelphia

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

magazine. In 1818 shw wrote ''Conversations on the Bible'', which became her most notable work. in 1833, her essays and letters were compiled and published as ''Mrs. Sarah Hall, Author of Conversations on the Bible''.

Bibliography

* ''Conversations on the Bible'' (1818) * ''Mrs. Sarah Hall, Author of Conversations on the Bible'' (1833)

References

1761 births 1830 deaths Poets from Philadelphia American women poets 19th-century American poets 18th-century American poets American Christian writers American women essayists 19th-century American women writers 18th-century essayists 19th-century American essayists 18th-century American women writers Educators from Pennsylvania American women educators {{US-poet-stub