Anna Jarvis

Anna Marie Jarvis (May 1, 1864, Webster, West Virginia — November 24, 1948, West Chester, Pennsylvania) is recognized as the founder of the Mother's Day holiday in the United States of America.

Biography

Anna Jarvis was born in the tiny town of Webster in Taylor County, West Virginia. She was the daughter of Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. The family moved to nearby Grafton, West Virginia in her childhood.

On May 12, 1907, two years after her mother's death, she held a memorial to her mother and thereafter embarked upon a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday. She succeeded in making this nationally recognized in 1914. The [http://www.mothersdayshrine.com International Mother's Day Shrine] was established in Grafton to commemorate her accomplishment.

By the 1920s, Anna Jarvis had become soured on the commercialization of the holiday. She incorporated herself as the Mother’s Day International Association, claimed copyright on the second Sunday of May, and was once arrested for disturbing the peace. She and her sister Ellsinore spent their family inheritance campaigning against the holiday. Both died in poverty. Jarvis, says her "New York Times" obituary, became embittered because too many people sent their mothers a printed greeting card. As she said, "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!"

Anna Marie Jarvis never married and had no children. She died in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

See also

* Mother's Day
* Mother's Day (United States)

References

*Kendall, Norman F. (1937), "Mothers Day, A History of its Founding and its Founder"
*Wolfe, Howard H. (1962), "Mothers Day and the Mothers Day Church"
*cite news | title=Battling the Mother's Day monster | first=Louisa | last=Taylor | publisher="Ottawa Citizen" | date=11 May 2008 | accessdate=2008-05-11 | page=A6 | url=http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=d2197440-25d0-4589-a2bf-fb13c8f203d1

External links

* [http://www.wvculture.org/history/thisdayinwvhistory/0508.html Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day]
* [http://www.webcemeteries.com/westlaurelhill/LHO.Asp Biography-West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvtaylor/founder.htm Anna Jarvis - Founder Of Mother's Day]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=542 Anna Marie Jarvis at Find-A-Grave]
* [http://www.mothersdayshrine.com International Mother's Day Shrine]