Anna Jarvis
Founder of Mother’s Day
“A printed card means nothing except
that you are too lazy to write to the woman
who has done more for you than anyone in the
world. And candy! You take a box to Mother -
and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty
sentiment.” These words came from the Mouth
of Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother’s Day.
Anna Marie Jarvis was born in
Webster, West Virginia on May 1, 1864.
According to historical records, at an early
age, Anna heard her mother express hope that
a memorial would be established for all
mothers, living and dead. Anna’s mother,
Mrs. Anna M. Jarvis, had been instrumental
in developing “Mothers Friendship Day” which
was part of the healing process of the Civil
War. Mrs. Jarvis had established a group of
Mothers' Day Work Clubs in Webster, Grafton,
Fetterman, Pruntytown, and Philippi, (West
Virginia) to improve health and hygiene
practices and conditions, before the
beginning of the Civil War.. During the
Civil War, Mrs. Anna Jarvis urged the
Mothers' Day Work Clubs to declare their
neutrality and to help both Union and
Confederate soldiers. The clubs treated the
wounded and fed and clothed soldiers that
were stationed in the area. Near the end of
the war, the Jarvis family moved to the
larger town of Grafton, West Virginia.
Naturally, as West Virginians fought on both
sides during the war (the state,
incorporated into the Union in 1864, was
part of Virginia before the war), there was
great tension when the soldiers returned
home. In the summer of 1865, Anna Jarvis
organized a Mothers' Friendship Day at the
courthouse in Pruntytown to bring together
soldiers and neighbors of all political
beliefs. The event was a complete success
promoting friendship and peace. Mothers'
Friendship Day became an annual event for
several years. After the death of her father
in 1902, Anna --along with her mother and
sister, Lillie -- moved to Philadelphia to
reside with her brother, Claude. It wasn’t
long after that her mother died. When Mrs.
Jarvis died on May 9, 1905, her daughter
Anna was resolved to honor her. She also
felt that even though the U.S. was a
hard-working, industrialized nation, the
adult children of her generation had become
negligent in the treatment of their parents.
In 1907, Miss Anna began a campaign to
establish a national Mother’s Day. Anna led
a small tribute to her mother at Andrews
Methodist Church on May 12 of that year, the
2nd anniversary of her mother’s death. It
was from that moment on that she dedicated
her life to establishing a nationally
recognized Mother's Day By the next year
Mother’s Day was also celebrated in her own
city of Philadelphia.
Miss Jarvis and her supporters began
to write to godly ministers, evangelists,
businessmen, and politicians in their
crusade to establish a national Mother’s
Day. This campaign was a success. By 1911,
Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every
state in the Union. In 1914, President
Woodrow Wilson made the official
announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a
national holiday that was to be held each
year on the second Sunday of May.
The one-woman crusade of Anna Jarvis
is often overlooked in History books. Women
during the early 1900s were engaged in many
other reform efforts that the history behind
Mother’s Day is often neglected. But it is
likely that it was these other reforms and
the avenues they opened for women that paved
the way for Anna Jarvis to succeed in her
campaign for Mother’s Day.
It must be noted that, while Miss
Jarvis spent most of her adult life striving
to create a special day to honor mothers, in
the end, she was disappointed with the way
Mother’s Day turned out. As the popularity
of the holiday grew, so did it’s
commercialization. What she had intended as
a day of sentiment quickly turned into a day
of profit. In the end, shortly before her
death, Anna Jarvis told a reporter that she
was sorry she ever started Mother’s Day.
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