The story of Mother's Day . . .

Anna Jarvis was born in West Virginia in 1864, toward the end of the American Civil War. She was the 9th of 11 children. 

As she grew up, Anna Jarvis rarely noticed all her mother did for her family. Her Mom raised her children, took care of her home and husband, and held a job outside the house as a school teacher. Yet it was seldom that any of her family remembered to thank her for all she did for them.

After her mother died, Anna Jarvis felt her absence. She wanted so much to have another chance to let her Mom know how much she was appreciated.

But it was too late.

Anna decided something rather unusual. She decided to try and create  a new holiday, a holiday to remind people who are fortunate enough to have a great Mom to thank their own Mom, at least once each year. 

Anna worked very hard to convince the American people that we needed this new holiday – Mother’s Day – to strengthen our family bonds. She wrote letters and gave talks and tried to get other people involved in her idea.

In 1914, Anna achieved success. President Woodrow Wilson issued the first Mother's Day proclamation, stating that the observance serves as a "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."  This made Mother’s Day an official national holiday, celebrated each year onthe 2nd Sunday in May.

It has been nearly 100 years since President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a national holiday. Since that time, Mother’s Day has been adopted by people around the world, and many celebrate Mother’s Day as Anna meant it to be – a day of personal thanks.