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

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, 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 (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

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. She was born in

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

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, 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 U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

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

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, 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 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 Intellectual#Man of Letters, men of letters of the Federalist Era. A Federalist Party, Federalist, Dennie is best remembered for hi ...

's Port Folio, a Philadelphia

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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