Mother’s Day is an annual event held in countries around the world to honour mothers. Mother’s Day is usually attributed to Anna Jarvis. She was the founder of the Mother’s Day Holiday in the United States. On May 10th 1907 she held a memorial service for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. The following year she organised a church service which was attended by over 400 children and their mothers.
Anna Marie Jarvis was born on May 1st 1864 in Webster, West Virginia. The family moved 100 miles to Grafton West Virginia when Anna Marie was a child. Having graduated from Mary Baldwin University, she returned to Grafton to work as a teacher. She later worked in the banking and insurance industries.
Following the death of her mother in 1905, Anna Jarvis began to campaign for Mother’s day to become a national holiday. The campaign was successful and in 1914, the second Sunday in May was designated a national holiday in the US by President Wilson. In the following years Mother’s Day began to spread gradually to other parts of the world.
Anna Jarvis, the founder of the Mother’s Day holiday in the United States died aged 84 in the year 1948 On This Day.
Anna Jarvis