Jarvis returned to Grafton to work in the public school system, additionally joining her mother as an active church member, maintaining a close link to her mother. She is entitled to it.Īt the encouragement of her mother, Anna Jarvis attended college and was awarded a diploma for the completion of two years of course work at the Augusta Female Seminary in Staunton, Virginia, today known as Mary Baldwin University. I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life.
It was during one of her Sunday school lessons in 1876 that her daughter, Anna Jarvis, allegedly found her inspiration for Mother's Day, as Ann closed her lesson with a prayer, stating: As a woman defined by her faith, she was very active within the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church community.
Īnn Reeves Jarvis was a social activist, founder of Mothers’ Day Work Clubs. The family moved to Grafton, West Virginia, also in Taylor County, later in her childhood. Her birthplace, today known as the Anna Jarvis House, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. Seven of her siblings died in infancy or early childhood. and Ann Maria (née Reeves) Jarvis on May 1, 1864, in Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia, the ninth of eleven children.
The idea was a success and 5-6 million people were estimated to have participated in the celebration. Three years later she made her initial push for a larger memorial service to honor all mothers. Ann and Anna were very close and when Ann died, Anna mourned deeply. Ann was also a social activist and had been the founder of a “Mother’s Friendly Day to weld families split by the Civil War.” Ann gave birth to 13 children, many of whom died very young. Anna desired the holiday to celebrate her own mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis.